Agents and Agencies
by AngelicDragons
Summary: Takes place in the 'Unintended Consequences' universe. There are a lot of people in the secret world NCIS Special Operations works in. That many people, with that many secrets can lead to problems.
1. Scorched Earth

**This is set in my Unintended Consequences universe. This takes place after UC: Down Time. This is another one of my planned out stories. I hope it goes as well as the last one.**

**Please let me know what you think. Case fiction is iffy. I need the big yea or the big nay from the readers.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: Los Angeles.**

* * *

Eric arrived at the Mission at 3:30 in the morning. He wanted to be sure that no one would see him. He had to get in and get out before anyone noticed. As he sat down in front of his workstation he wondered again if he should tell the team. He didn't want to drag them into this. He wasn't even sure what 'this' was yet. He wouldn't know until he pulled Sam out of hiding and they had a talk. He considered telling Nell but didn't want to drag her into something that would most likely cost him his job. He owed Sam. They had been friends for a long time. He decided for the hundredth time that he would keep quiet for now, but if things got rough he would contact Callen as the very least. Actually he had a better idea.

He spent half an hour setting up what he needed to before he blanked three sets of hard drives. He also scrambled and deleted all the video and audio running in the mission. He left OPS, moving to the server room. There he removed the drives that he had just previously deleted all the information from. He couldn't take the chance that anyone could reconstruct the data he had deleted. He took the drives, entered the burn room, and didn't leave until the drives where completely destroyed. Leaving the burn room he went to his locker putting in his phone, NCIS id, car keys, and wallet. He checked his watch, 4:15. "Time to get moving", he thought to himself. He was going to be late. With that he walked out of the Mission.

* * *

Nell arrived at the Mission at 6:00 AM on the button. Her normal time so that she could attempt to get ahead on some work. It wouldn't happen, but she would keep trying. She noticed Eric's car in the parking lot. She was beginning to think that he was having the same problem sleeping that Callen did. He had been showing up early for work for the last several days. She had asked what it was for, she knew it wasn't part of any ongoing NCIS operation. He had told her that he was helping some friends from the alphabet agencies on an operation they were working on.

She entered the Mission, dropped her stuff off at her desk and went up to OPS.

"Morning Er…" OPS was empty. She admitted to herself that was strange. She pushed the thought out of her mind. Time to get the work done she came here early for. As she logged into her station several alerts appeared. As she looked through the list of alerts she felt the color drain from her face. Her call to Hetty was immediate. She picked up on the first ring.

"Hetty, we have a problem. A very big problem."

* * *

Deeks rolled over, still mostly asleep, to grab his phone and look at the message that just caused the emergency notification alarm.

REPORT TO MISSION IMMEDIATELY

Deeks bolted upright in bed. "KENSI!"

Kensi opened the door to the bathroom, still towel drying her hair, and stuck her head into the bedroom. "You alright, babe?"

Deeks shook his head clear getting rid of old, bad memories. "Uhm…yeah…we…there…there's an emergency alert. We are supposed to report to the Mission immediately."

"That caused you to scream out my name?" She smiled at him. "What sort of dream were you having?"

Deeks thought about just letting it drop or lying, but they had gotten so good at their communication he didn't dare.

"No. I was still mostly asleep. This is the message that brought me into the Mission at three am to find out you were missing. I thought I was back there. I panicked."

Kensi walked out of the bathroom to sit on the bed beside Deeks. She leaned over to give him a soft kiss. Pulling back from the kiss she lowered her head unto his shoulder while wrapping her arms around his waist. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to tease you."

Deeks actually smiled. "No, you couldn't have known. Your teasing actually made me feel better anyway. Let's me know that our 'thing' is alive and strong."

Kensi raised her eyebrow at him. "I thought we agreed to call it a relationship?"

Deeks smile actually grew. "We did. I just wanted to see if I could get you to break your promise to not hit me."

"Not fair. You are not supposed to deliberately goad me."

"I know." Deeks stood up from the bed. "Let me get a quick shower. Given what happened last time this message came out, it's going to be a long hard day." With that Deeks walked into the bathroom to take a shower.

* * *

Deeks and Kensi walked through the mission doors at the same time as Sam and G. Nell was waiting for them at the bull pen.

"As of this minute we are going on tactical alert." She said and turned on her heel to march away.

Deeks, G, and Sam all froze to the spot. Each was having their own very painful déjà vu moment of the last time this happened. Nell and Kensi almost immediately realized they had stopped.

Kensi turned around. "Guys, you coming?" She was growing increasingly concerned about the looks crossing each of their faces.

Nell turned back around, immediately remembering why all of this felt so horribly familiar.

Kensi turned to look at Nell. As she saw her face, her concern for the guys was momentarily forgotten. "Nell, have you been crying. What happened?" Between Deeks outburst at home, the guy's reaction now, and Nell's tears, she was becoming increasingly unnerved.

G spoke first. "What is it? Tell us now, Nell."

Nell took a deep breath trying to control her voice. "This morning Eric disappeared. He moved terabytes of data, destroyed the drives on three servers, up to the point of burning them, disabled all the security systems for over an hour, left his keys, phone, tablet, laptop, wallet, NCIS credentials, car, and walked out of the building. That was almost three hours ago."

Sam went to ask another question, but Nell raised her hand.

"Granger and Hetty are in OPS. More of your questions can be answered there. Please follow me." Nell was determined not to cry in front of everyone. She walked away marching up the stairs to OPS. The four agents followed Nell up the steps and through the doors.

Granger and Hetty looked up from a conversation they were having when everyone else entered.

"What happened to Eric?" Sam asked.

"We don't know, Agent Hanna. We aren't even sure what he did while he was here. He disabled everything but the alerts that Agent Jones received." Hetty replied

"He didn't know about those." Nell added with a frown. "They run from my workstation. I made them just to help with the work load. I never told him about them."

"So if it wasn't for Nell's alerts what would we know?" Callen asked.

"That between three and five this morning the Mission was entered, all security was disabled, and several hard drives were destroyed." Granger nodded his head to Nell. "We would have known his truck was here, but wouldn't have checked his locker without Agent Jones suggestion."

"So what do we know?" Deeks asked.

Nell fielded the question. "This isn't related to any NCIS operation. As far as we can tell it isn't related to any investigation for any agency. Whatever he did to the security system can't be undone. We reached out to his friends at the CIA and the NSA. The CIA told us that they weren't working on anything with Eric. They also say that if Eric did it, that's the way it is going to stay. When we reached out to his friend Sam at the NSA we found out that he disappeared under similar circumstances two days ago."

"What do we know about Sam?" G questioned.

"Sam is a high level NSA computer expert. They don't work onsite but from a highly secure off site location. Very few people have ever seen Sam and there are no records of Sam in the system, open, restricted, classified, or otherwise." Hetty explained. "The NSA is quietly attempting to locate Sam but it appears he is attempting to stay hidden deliberately."

Hetty took a deep breath before looking everyone in the eye one at the time. "I'm about to violate a trust. I hope that all of you will not only forgive me but understand why. I trust that you will keep this information close in the spirit of trust is was given. Mr. Beale was at one time one of the foremost hackers in the world. He cracked several 'unbreakable' systems. Apparently Mr. Beale loved the challenge. He never stole anything. He never broke anything. In fact there are several systems that are attributed to him that the intrusions couldn't be proven and he never admitted to being responsible for them to anyone but me."

"Are you saying you think Eric has gone back to be a black hat hacker?" Deeks asked.

"Black Hat?" Sam asked.

"Bad guy hacker. Good hackers are white hats."

"No." Granger said. "That has not been said or even alluded to. We just wanted you to understand the skill that Mr. Beale has and why he would be a target. Our mission it to find Mr. Beale, immediately. I've already talked to Director Vance. With Mr. Beale and Mr. Sam missing this is being categorized as a national security matter. Do what you have to do to find him and bring him here."

"Alright. Kensi, Deeks, go to Eric's place and see what you can find." G said. "Who can get us in contact with the group from NSA looking for Sam?"

"I've already put in the call." Nell said. "They will make time whenever you are ready."

Granger looked at his watch. "I've got a flight to catch." Granger saw the questioning looks on everyone's face. "I have a flight to Washington to meet with Director Vance, the directors of the CIA, NSA, and DIA. Two computer geniuses from two highly classified organizations are missing. That causes panic."

"Yea, I could see where that would happen." Deeks said.

"Come on, Deeks." Kensi said heading out of OPS.

"Nell, tell the NSA we are ready whenever they are."

* * *

"At least we don't have to pick the lock." Deeks said as he used Eric's keys to unlock the door.

"This is worse than the time we had to search Rose's place." Kensi said as she entered the condo.

"Yeah." Deeks went straight to the home office that Eric had built. Kensi followed. "Well, that was to be expected." All of the machines were in parts with the hard drives taken. Deeks stooped down to push around the parts. "He not only took the hard drives he pulled the whole system apart."

"How do you know it was Eric?"

"Because these systems have been carefully taken apart. This was done by someone who didn't want to actually break anything and it took a lot of time."

"What did you get yourself into Eric?" Kensi muttered as she left the office to search through the rest of the house.

Deeks and Kensi searched the house for another hour, but nothing else of interest was found. All the damage was concentrated in the office, all of it having been done by Eric.

* * *

Sam and Callen were getting a little aggravated waiting for the NSA agents to contact them. Sam was about to ask Nell to contact them again when the screen came alive.

"My apologies, Agents. I'm Agent Devro." The man speaking pointed to the man beside him. "This is Agent Sellings. There has been a development in the case and it isn't good. The handler for Sam and several other assets, a Special Agent Marcus Langus, has been found dead. It appears that he was tortured before he was finally killed. We don't know who did him or what they wanted."

All of Callen's instincts kicked off. "Are any of the other 'assets' missing?"

"We don't know. As a means of keeping them secure, Agent Langus was the only one in contact with them. He's the only one that knew their real names and where they lived. All the agencies interactions were through him. The only reason we know Sam is missing is because of an email he sent saying they had been out of contact for extended period of time."

Sam couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Wait, so you don't know who you are looking for or what their name is?"

Agent Devro shook his head. "His home was burned after it was searched. All the information he had about the people he managed has either been taken or is ash. His personal files on the NSA network have been deleted. It appears to have been done by him, but we are checking on it. If you think it sounds bad to you, just remember I'm the guy trying to find these people."

"I'm sorry." Sam couldn't imagine the pressure Devro was under. "What does this have to do with Eric Beale?"

"Mr. Beale has met Sam in person. He is one of the few people that can identify Sam and connect him to the NSA."

"So you definitely believe that all of this is connected?" Callen questioned.

"With his disappearance this morning and finding Agent Langus dead? It's the best theory we have going."

"Alright. We'll keep you apprised of what we find, will you do the same?" Sam asked.

"Absolutely."

"Thanks." Sam and Callen answered.

With that the screen went dark.

"Well even though that was very informative, we aren't any closer to finding out what is going on with Eric."

* * *

Nell Jones was sitting at her desk silently flicking through her emotions like a motion picture. She was scared because she didn't know what Eric had gotten himself into or if he was ok. She was angry that he hadn't come to her for help with whatever it was he was involved in. More importantly it frustrated her to no end that she couldn't help him.

He had done an amazingly thorough job of covering his tracks. When Deeks and Kensi had called in and said that he had done the same thing at home he had done at the Mission, it had crushed the remainder of her hopes. His home machines accessed the internet through the servers at the Mission that he had destroyed so there was no ISP to go to for records. Nell Jones desperately needed an idea. She needed a break.

That's when it hit her, if Sam had contacted Eric, then it happened before this morning and there had to be a record of that. She was sure it wasn't by his phone, his work station, or his home system. They would have found that. Sam had to have contacted Eric in a way that was both anonymous and something that would easily accessible from anywhere.

"The game." She suddenly shouted. She jumped up sprinting toward OPS. As she came through the door she ignored the other people in the room focusing on her station. She actually knew Eric's log in for his character. She had secretly pulled it from the network previously to play a prank on him but then decided not go through with it. She logged into Eric's account without an issue. She was hoping that he would be online. Instead she started going through the conversations in Eric's account. It took a while but she found it. A conversation between Eric and another character. The conversation was cryptic but it was obvious they were not talking about anything inside the game. Eric was going to meet Sam. It appeared as if Sam was headed to LA. Eric was supposed to arrange transportation and identities to travel under. Nell checked the timestamp of the conversation. It has happened yesterday afternoon. So, Sam was alive at least as late as yesterday afternoon and Eric was going to meet him. Nell had to let the team know.


	2. NCIS 911

**The rest of the chapters aren't going to come this quick but I wrote the first two together when planning the story out.**

**Thank you everyone for your comments and follows. I hope you like the second chapter as much as the first.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.**

* * *

"So Sam is headed here." Nell said after briefing everyone on what she had figured out and the contents of the game conversation.

"So we assume that Eric is still local in Los Angeles?" Deeks said.

"I would say that's a safe bet." Nell answered. "However in the conversation they are definitely talking about fake identities. "

That's when Hetty entered the conversation. "Eric has the skills to create perfect identities as you all know. That's why he destroyed the drives. To keep the identities from being known by anyone, even us."

Callen turned to look at Hetty. "He would have good reason to. Someone got to Langus. Sam obviously doesn't believe he can trust the NSA. He would never have turned to Eric or wanted to hide his identity if he trusted his own agency."

"We should be able to get them at the airport right? Facial recognition should find Eric." Deeks pointed out.

Kensi shook her head. "Only if he goes in the airport. If he doesn't show his face, we don't find him. We can't look for Sam because we have no idea what he looks like."

"Yeah. Now the NSA knows the same thing. If that's who Sam is running from, we gave them a new place to look when we spoke to the agents earlier." Sam just shook his head.

"So now we've put Eric in the crosshairs of whoever went after Langus." Callen stated.

"OK then we are going to do this the old fashion way." Hetty said getting everyone's attention. "Miss Jones, please put out a BOLO to all local, state, and federal authorities for Mr. Beale. Send the information to the local and state media as well. We will force Mr. Beale to come to us."

"Are you sure that's the best idea, Hetty." Callen asked concerned.

"No, Mr. Callen, I am not, but, we can't wait for something to happen to Mr. Beale before acting. This way we are proactive in helping and possibly saving his life. More importantly, Mr. Beale will know that he still has friends he can come to."

With that Hetty turned from the team and walked out of OPS.

* * *

An hour later everyone was getting very antsy. They had hoped, expected even, that Eric would contact them when the BOLO hit the TV and radio, but he hadn't. Deeks had, in a moment of desperation, suggested going to LAX and looking for Eric. Sam, feeling equally as desperate, thought it wasn't such a bad idea. Callen was about to give in and actually follow through with the idea when screens started flashing in OPS.

An overhead LA map appeared on the main screen with a bright yellow circle with the word help inside. Beside the yellow circle were the latitude and longitude and a bright yellow line showing the best route from the Mission to the location shown on the screen.

Nell screamed. "It's him. It's Eric. It's a mayday."

The team was already headed for the door. "Send the information to our phones." Nell had the information to the team's phones before they got to the cars.

The Challenger and Charger tore out of the parking lot accelerating along the route toward the location listed on the phone. It took the group nine and a half minutes to arrive at the given coordinates. When they did arrive at the location, they saw Eric, handcuffed by two men in suits and being shoved into a blacked out Chevy Impala. Sam cut in front of the sedan and Deeks blocked the car in from behind. Callen could tell that that the rest of the team was ready, probably eager, to put both men down to take Eric back, but he decided to take things a little easy.

As they approached, Callen pulled out his credentials. "NCIS Agents. We are the ones looking for this individual."

The man closest to Callen turned while reaching into his jacket. Sam, Kensi, and Deeks all drew weapons. The man froze. "Easy, easy. Just getting my credentials. I'm Agent Devro. This is Agent Sellings. We are with the NSA. We have been looking for these two for several days. We are taking them into custody. We will be happy to contact you when we have them at a secure location."

Callen looked back at Sam exchanging a questioning glance. As he turned around he launched an uppercut right into the closest man's jaw causing his head to snap back and stumble against the car. Kensi didn't miss a step, using her pistol as a hammer to put down the second agent with a blow to the head.

"Ok, why did a just knockout a NSA agent?" Kensi asked.

Sam fielded the question. "These are not Agent Devro and Sellings. We spoke to them this morning. Devro is African-American and Sellings is Hispanic."

Deeks leaned down into the car to pull Eric out and froze. "Eric, where is Sam?"

Eric looked both relieved and anxious at the same time. "Hey Deeks." Eric nodded his head toward the person sitting next to him. "This is Sam."

The petite woman next to Eric would have been attractive by any measure. She had jet black hair. It was just above shoulder length and had purple highlights running down the right side. Her skin tone denoted Asian blood somewhere in her family line. She had the compact muscled look of a gymnast or ballerina. She wore a plain blue t-shirt and jeans. However, what caught Deeks's immediate attention were the brilliant green eyes. She leaned forward in the seat to see around Eric. "Hi. Ashley Walters. My friends call me Ash. Can you get us out of these cuffs?"

Deeks pulled his head back out of the car. "You guys aren't going to believe this. Not in a million years."

* * *

Half an hour later everyone was back at the boat house. The entire group was waiting for Hetty to arrive. She had insisted on being present while Eric was questioned. The two 'agents' were in separate interrogation rooms. Eric and Ashley where sitting on the sofa. Callen, Sam, and Kensi were discussing how to best approach the agents when questioning them. Deeks was leaning across the back of a chair facing the sofa just staring back and forth between Eric and Ashley.

"Deeks, you are completely freaking me out." Eric looked uncomfortably from Deeks to Ashley and then back again.

Deeks was about to answer when Hetty entered. "Mr. Beale." The look on Eric's face plainly told everyone he was attempting to use his mind to open up a hole in the floor that could swallow him, but it wasn't working. "While it would be personally gratifying to lecture you on the dangerous, reckless, and foolish actions you have taken in the last twenty-four hours, we don't have time for that." Deeks took a step back from the sofa toward the rest of the team. Hetty's anger was coming off her in waves. "Let's start with why Miss Walters felt the need to go into hiding then we will deal with your actions Mr. Beale."

Ashly cleared her throat before beginning. "I specialize in security for high value systems. One of my jobs is to make sure that communications systems stay secure for the DOD. I record the traffic in and out as well as do real-time monitoring of communications if necessary. Recently I found extra traffic going through two military satellites over the pacific. I call it extra because the amount of resources actually being used by the satellites were more than were showing in the communication auditing I was doing." Ash looked around the room to be sure everyone was following. She could tell by the look on their faces that they were. She wasn't use to that. The suits she normally spoke to just want a simple yes it was secure or no it wasn't. "It took me a month to figure out what had happened. Someone, with some very serious kung-fu I might add, had actually pulled one of the satellites channels apart from the rest of the system and created their own private little line. I started monitoring and recording the lines on both satellites. What I found was information and equipment being funneled to unnamed individuals. Some of the information was classified, time-sensitive information."

"Like what?" Sam was the first to ask the question on everyone's mind.

"Prisoner transfers. Travel agendas for VIPs in the region. Locations of meetings between high level individuals. The sort of information that just shouldn't be out there. "

"I take it you reported this through your chain of command?" Hetty asked.

"Yes, ma'am. I did. I told Agent Langus what I had found and gave him copies of everything I had. I figured that would be the end of it. It's not like I hadn't found things before and turned them over. That's my job." Ashley looked around the room. "Two days ago, Langus showed up out of the blue while I was picking up dinner from a take-out place. He told me not to go home and ditch everything I had. He even handed me a plastic bag of brand new clothes. Told me to change. Ditch all my electronics. He handed me a burn phone and told me to run. He said he would contact me in 24 hours, but that never happened. He looked really scared. When I didn't hear from him after 24 hours, I didn't know what else to do. I contacted one of the few people I could trust that I knew could help me." Ashley turned to face Eric and gave him a soft smile.

Hetty turned her gaze to Eric. Everyone could see him crumble under the glare. "And what did you do to help Mr. Beale?"

"I created several fake identities for both Ashley and myself. I then booked those identities on numerous flights from D.C. and Los Angeles to numerous third destinations all over the globe. I also created credit lines and histories for those ids. Ashley is absolutely positive that whoever is after her has the NSA completely compromised so I couldn't leave anything for them to find. Also I didn't want to get you guys in trouble." Eric almost winced as frowns appeared on everyone's faces. "I must have slipped up somewhere though. It didn't take them long to find us."

"Actually that's our fault." Callen stood up from his chair and pointed at the screen. "We spoke to the real Agents Devro and Sellings earlier this morning. We connected you to Sa…Ashley." Callen turned to look at Ashley. "You are right, someone is inside the NSA. We gave them a place to look."

"I don't understand how they recognized me though. I've only ever dealt with Langus. I've never even spoken to anyone else at the NSA. I'm a completely dark asset."

"My Dear" Hetty sat down next to Ashley taking her hand. "Agent Langus's body was found this morning in his apartment. He had been tortured before he was murdered. In all likely hood he gave a description of you to the people who tortured him. With a description and a destination it wasn't too hard to simply wait for you to turn up here in LA." Hetty turned to Eric. "While all the false trails you created were a good idea, they didn't matter after they knew who they were looking for and where they were going."

"This is why I'm not a field agent." Eric said to the room.

"I don't know, Eric. You got her here, alive, and we have two people in custody to question." Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, buddy. You did get her here and kept both of you away from the people after her. I would call that a good operation." Deeks added.

"So what do we do with tweetle-dee and tweetle-dum?" Kensi asked.

"Well, Miss Jones has been running their finger prints through every database she can find, as of yet no luck. Also, I contacted agents Devro and Sellings. They didn't take the news of agents impersonating them very well and have requested we turn the two men in question over to them when we are finished." Hetty turned to Callen and Sam. "You two will interrogate the gentlemen we are holding." She turned to Kensi and Deeks. "You two will take Miss Walters back to the Mission." Deeks and Kensi exchanged a curious glance. "She has a higher security clearance than the two of you. In fact she already knows about its existence and has extensive knowledge about its systems." Hetty then rounded on Eric. "Mr. Beale you will ride with me."

Eric probably would have handled Hetty's statement better if the rest of the team hadn't looked at him like it was the last time they would see him alive, but then again, he probably wouldn't have.

"Yes, Hetty."

* * *

As Deeks, Kensi, and Ashley got into the car, Deeks's natural curiosity and inability to keep quiet took over. "How long have you known Eric? I got the feeling that the two of you have known one another much longer than the time you've been working together on projects."

Ashley was surprised by the question and wasn't exactly sure how to answer it seeing as how it was obvious that Eric had never said anything. "I've known him since high school. We've been friends for a long time. We still talk regularly."

"Wow. Two world class computer experts hanging out together in high school. I bet there is a story there." Deeks shot her a look through the review mirror.

Ashley was tired, scared, nervous, and frustrated. She was tired from being on the run for two days. She didn't need much sleep, but she was starting to push it, even for her. She was scared because people were trying to kill her. She was completely in over her head. That was really saying something because she thought she had been in over her head before, but now she knew how wrong she was. She was nervous because she had no idea where she was going and who these people were. She knew Eric trusted them, but she had been betrayed by people she had trusted already. She was frustrated because there was nothing she could currently do to fix the problem she was in. She was proactive. She attacked problems head on, but that wasn't going to work for her in this case. At least not right now. Here she was, after two days of being under unbelievable stress, sitting the back of a car with nothing to do but let her mind wander to the worst case scenarios for her life. The combination of all those factor was the only reason she ever came up with for the ridiculous question that came out of her mouth at that moment.

"So, you guys are Densi?"

Deeks was watching the road, but Kensi turned around in time to see the look of both horror and embarrassment that washed across Ashley's face as she realized what she said. "Excuse me?"

Ashley wanted to turn invisible. She couldn't believe she had just asked that question. Eric was going to strangler her. She briefly consider playing dumb, but figured it would only make things worse. She sheepishly explained. "It's shipper name. You know you watch a TV show that has a couple that you want to see get together, but the writer's make it happen slowly. To show support fans give the couple they are pulling for a cute little nickname that combine part of both character's names."

"Yes I know."

Deeks was shocked "You know?"

"I am a girl Deeks."

"Oh, I know." Kensi shot Deeks her best 'Be quiet' look before turning around to look at Ashley.

"Eric said that everyone was pulling for the two of you. After several conversations we decide the two of you needed a shipper name. We tried 'Keeks', 'Bensi', 'Mensi', and 'Beeks' but they just don't have the right ring to them. So we went with 'Densi'. Please don't tell Eric I said anything." Why couldn't she just shut up?

Deeks immediately started laughing. "That is the greatest thing ever. WE ARE DENSI!"

Kensi couldn't help the smile on her face, but she knew that she couldn't let this get out of hand. "Deeks, if you ever mention this to anyone, and I do mean anyone, the only person you will be cuddling with at home is Monty. In his dog bed."

"Right, princess." Kensi wasn't sure she got her point across since Deeks could barely speak because he was till laughing.

* * *

Eric got into the passenger seat of the Jaguar as Hetty got into the driver's seat. Hetty made no motion to start the car. They simply seat there for several minutes in silence.

"Have I made such a mess of things that you would turn to your old bad habits rather than come to me for help?"

Eric turned to Hetty seeing what looked like despair in her face. "It wasn't not trusting you Hetty, it was keeping Ash safe. She didn't trust anyone and I told her I wouldn't tell anyone. She knew that her systems had been compromised. I couldn't prove that ours weren't. I did what I knew. I got her clear of the immediate danger as best I could." Eric took a deep breath. He didn't feel like we was saying the right things. "I sent the Callen signal as soon as things got over my head. I knew that everyone would help me, help us. It's wasn't until those NSA guys found us that I convinced Ash that we needed serious help. She only agreed because she knows the NSA is compromised and only thinks NCIS might is."

Eric was starting to get a little creeped out by the way Hetty was acting. He had never seen anything but the amazingly calm, supernatural Hetty. Not this almost normal person he was sitting beside now.

"I didn't do anything that would get me in trouble, fired maybe, but not in trouble." Eric wasn't sure what else to say.

Hetty started the car. "I can assure you Mr. Beale that you job is very much secure. I'm more worried about you violating the terms of your 'understanding'."

"That absolutely did not happen."


	3. Growing Problems

**Here is the next chapter. Had to rework it and I'm sorting out four. I plotted myself into a corner. Had to back up, turn around, and move down another road. I hope it doesn't show.**

**Thank you everyone that is reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't NCIS:LA.**

* * *

Sam and Callen walked into the Mission and up the stairs to OPS over an hour later, no wiser. The two fake NSA agents hadn't so much as said a word. They had simply sat there for an hour staring at them.

"Good to see you back in your chair Eric." Sam nodded his head toward the tech.

"Good to be back, Sam."

"Anything?" The lack of new information was really starting to chafe at Kensi.

"Not a word. And I mean not on single word. They didn't even give their fake names. They simply sat there and stared at us for an hour." Sam's frustration was showing.

"It was the single most uninformative interrogation I have ever conducted." Callen shook his head. "I once interrogated an agent suffering temporary amnesia from a head trauma and got more information. We turned them over to the NSA. Let them see if they can get anything out of them."

"The guys are definitely military or company men. They didn't even break a sweat. It's like they knew something we didn't and were just waiting for it to happen."

"There may be a reason for that Mr. Hanna." Hetty appeared in the room. "Mr. Beale please bring up traffic camera 1147."

Eric hit several keys on his keyboard causing video to appear on the monitors.

"Now start the footage from ten minutes ago."

On the screen a standard government navy blue Impala pulled up in front of a building downtown. Just as the car pulled to a stop along the curb, a large four door, dual wheel, pickup with a large tube steel bumper rammed the car from the side pushing it up onto the curb. Four men jumped out of the truck. All of them had automatic rifles. Two of them covered the agents in the front seat, while the other two went around to the undamaged side of the car to help out the two fake agents. The two men were shaken, but quickly ran to the waiting truck. After they entered, the four gunmen returned to the truck and it fled the scene.

"Son of a bitch!" Sam yelled.

"They were just waiting for the transfer. As soon as the NSA was involved they knew what was happening. Why not hit at the boat house if they knew?" Callen questioned.

"Because, Mr. Callen, they don't know where the boat house is. That building they were in front of is the NSA office for LA. They were waiting there. I'm certain they didn't know where they were coming from. I'm not even sure they knew when the agents would be arriving. I bet they were at the building waiting. Eric can you get an angle across the street? Let's see how long they were waiting."

Watching the footage everyone saw the truck arrive half an hour after the team had taken the two false agents into custody.

"Who are we up against here?" Deeks voiced everyone's internal question.

"That Mr. Deeks is an excellent question. It would appear that Miss Walters is right. The NSA has been compromised."

Callen walked over to Eric. "Where's Ashley?"

"Eating. Hetty and I picked up lunch, which all of us just finished. We got enough for you and Sam. It's in the kitchen. Then, she's supposed to sit down with Nell and go over the data she recorded."

Kensi turned her head from the conversation that Hetty, Deeks, and Sam were having. "You left Ashley alone with Nell?"

"Yeah. They are going over the data. I would help but I have to be here. Hetty kind of threatened me." Eric gave a sheepish smile.

Kensi looked at the ceiling shaking her head. "Men." With that she walked out of OPS.

"What did I do?" Eric looked at Callen. "What did I do?"

* * *

Nell Jones is a consummate professional. She has been given a job to perform and a person to perform it with. She will do her job. The fact that Sam is a woman is not important. It certainly isn't important that she is a pretty woman, about her age, who is extremely intelligent, that Eric Beale went off into the night to play hero for, leaving her…leaving the team behind. That doesn't matter in the slightest.

Nell held her hand out. "Nell Jones."

Ashley took her hand. "Ashley Walters."

Nell lightly shook her head clear. She was having trouble focusing. That wasn't normally a problem for her. But something about having Ashley in her domain was throwing her off. Her domain? When did she become territorial?

"So, what do you have to show me?"

"Right." Ashley reached into her backpack and pulled out two 20 Terabyte hard drives. If Nell was surprised to see the proprietary drives she didn't show it. Ashley though she had lost them when the NSA agents had put her bag in the trunk of the car. Those two drives represented the only clue she had as to why her life had been turned upside down in the last seventy-two hours. She knew if they disappeared she would never get her life turned right side up.

Nell took the two drives and wired them into the Mission's network. "We'll make a copy of one and then see what is on the other one, cause this going to take some time." Nell looked up at Ashley. "But…you know that. Sorry, I'm used to having to explain the technical parts."

"I understand. I usually have to do the same thing. That is if they even care about what I'm actually doing. Usually that just want an answer of 'good' or 'bad'."

Nell kept typing away, pulling files from the hard drive so they could be played on her system. "Around here, everyone is pretty much at the top of their game. Even if they don't know, they learn very quickly." Nell was quiet for a moment while she tried to sort out what all she was looking at. "So…how do you know Eric?" It wasn't exactly G. Callen smooth, it wasn't even Eric Beale smooth, but she wasn't really concerned about it. She needed answers.

"I've known him since high school. We just sort of clicked. He's such a smart, tech savvy guy and we just had so much in common. We could talk and he would actually listen. He didn't care that I was a girl, or too smart for my own good, or about the money. He just liked me for me. After my parents were killed in a plane crash, he was the one thing that held me together. He got me through a pretty rough time. I'll always owe him for that. When everything fell apart I knew there was only one person I could trust totally. He's always come through for me before. My own personal knight in shining armor. I knew that Eric wouldn't let me down."

Nell felt her green eyed monster coming out to play. She never considered herself a jealous person. She knew that she didn't even have a right to be jealous over Eric. They didn't even have a 'thing'. Well, they kissed, but that had only been because she tricked Eric. She didn't know what she was about to say, but she knew it wasn't going to be good.

"So what have you found?" Kensi could feel the tension rolling of Nell. She figured she had arrived just in the nick of time before something went wrong. On the pretense of pointing at something on the screen she moved directly between Ashley and Nell, separating the two women. "What's all this?"

"Those are the recording of the traffic across the satellite. The largest files are video and audio files. The relatively smaller files are data."

"Well, let's start with one of the video feeds. They say a picture is worth a thousand words." Kensi hoped if she kept everything strictly to business, it would give Nell time to calm down. She could tell she wasn't her normal calm composed self.

The video feeds both only showed blank screens. The voices could easily be heard though. The information that were talking about was cryptic but Kensi recognized one of the town names.

"The guy on the receiving end is in Afghanistan. I recognize the town name. It's near where I was stationed. Is there any way to run a voice comparison of who is talking against other transmissions? Whoever these people are, they have to have regular access to the system."

"I can try." Nell began typing away at her keyboard. "This might take some time Kensi."

Kensi pulled a chair up that let her keep her position between the two women. "No problem, I can wait." Kensi figured it was a long shot, but that wasn't her primary purpose. She wanted to keep Nell and Ashley busy. She knew Nell was a professional, Kensi was too, but that hadn't stopped her from making an ass out of herself when her green monster came out to play with Talia Del Campo. She wanted to save Nell the embarrassment.

Nell wasn't sure she was annoyed that Kensi wasn't leaving so that she could try to interrogate Ashly further or thankful that she was staying so she wouldn't embarrasses herself by being unprofessional.

* * *

Callen, Sam, Deeks, and Hetty were still in OPS looking at the footage. They hadn't found anything that could help them identify the individuals in the truck. Sam was sure they were military but the finger prints of the fake agents had not shown up when searching the DOD database. As it became obvious the footage wasn't going to reveal anything helpful, another thought occurred to Sam.

"Where is Ashley going to stay? Are we going to keep her here at the Mission? I mean there are people looking for her and the information that she has."

Callen looked away from the screen. "That's a good question."

Eric immediately spoke up. "I thought she was staying with me?"

"If she stays with you, so is someone else." Callen responded. "Both you and she are targets now, and you are going to need trained agents there in case something happens. You saw the precision that they executed the take down in front of the NSA. Are you prepared to deal with that Eric?"

Eric looked at the screen and then back at Callen. "No."

"Then a protective detail it is." Sam looked around at everyone. "Who's on tonight?"

"I'll go first. Team leader prerogative."

"Shouldn't there be a girl there as well?" Deeks couldn't believe he had just said that. A night away from Kensi was going to suck.

"Yeah, probably would be a good idea to have Kensi there." Sam agreed.

"Nell's an agent." Eric offered. "And if Nell is there, then she and Ash can continue to work through the data." Eric smiled, proud of himself.

Callen wasn't stupid. He knew what Eric was up to, but it was a good idea. It also meant that he could send Kensi and Deeks home right now to get some sleep and put them outside the house tonight.

"Alright. Nell and I are in the house with you and Ashley." Callen turned to Deeks. "Deeks, you and Kensi head out and get some rest. I want to two of you to stake out Eric's house tonight. The NSA is real big on surveillance. Let's try and see them before they see us."

"Will do." Deeks started heading for the door.

"Wait." Callen followed after him. "I want to go down there and tell Nell before you tell Kensi what the two of you are doing. That way it only has to be explained once."

The two agents headed for the door.

"Deeks." Sam leveled him with his best glare. "Resting. You and Kensi are resting."

Deeks fired off a thousand watt smile. "Sure we are."

* * *

Kensi saw the guys walking over first.

"Hey guys. All the video is blacked out. I recognized one of the town names spoken. It's near where I was located. Nell's going to try comparing the voices to legitimate traffic to see if anything pops. It's a long shot but it's a shot.

"I guess that's good news." Callen turned to Ashley. "Ashley, we need to talk about security for you and Eric. The individuals that are after you know what you and Eric look like now. Tonight, you are going to stay at Eric's house."

Kensi was the only one that noticed the color drain from Nell's face. Deeks and Callen were both looking at Ashley. Kensi was about to say something, but Callen turned around to look at Nell just about the time she got her emotions back under control.

"Nell, it's been pointed out to me that a woman's touch is needed on this case. To that end you and I are staying with Eric and Ashley tonight at his house. Kensi and Deeks are going to go home and get some rest so that they can do external security."

Nell's momentary panic at Ashley staying at Eric's house alone was quickly replaced by relief and not a little bit of nervousness when Callen told her she would be there as well. She wasn't sure she would be able to hide her excitement if she talked, so she simply nodded her head in the affirmative.

"Wow. I hadn't even thought about that. I was just relieved that you guys showed up and I wasn't running anymore, I hadn't thought about what I was doing later."

"That's what we are here for." Deeks grabbed Kensi's hand to help her off the chair. "We will do the worrying, you do the super genius computer stuff."

* * *

Outside, Kensi was frustrated.

"Deeks, did you do that?"

"Do what?" Deeks wasn't sure what he had done but knew he better tread carefully.

"The sleepover at Eric's?"

"Ok princess. Slow down. Eric said he assumed that Ashley was staying with him. Callen said he would also stay. I mentioned that a female agent might need to be there for Ashley's benefit." Deeks raised his hands to forestall the barrage he saw coming from Kensi. "I assumed Callen would send you and I in. I was gearing up to spend the night playing video games with Eric. Eric suggested that Nell be the female agent. That's how the two of us ended up outside." Deeks started laughing. "I couldn't get our 'thing' sorted out. Now you think I'm trying to play match maker with the 'Neric' thing."

Kensi laughed. "Neric?"

"They shipper name us, I shipper name them. Turnabout is fair play.

"It might be 'Bash'."

Deeks looked at her confused. "Bash?"

"Yeah, 'Bash'. You know 'Beale/Ash'."

Deeks looked surprised. "You really think that's possible?"

"Given the tension when I walked up to the two of them, Nell thinks it is." Kensi shook her head. "Wait, you said it was Eric's idea to have both of them there? Good grief, you men sure are dense. I don't know who I feel sorrier for in that house tonight."

"Callen. I feel most sorry for Callen. He's the innocent civilian in the middle of a war."


	4. Just When It Can't Get Any Worse

**Here is the next chapter. I hope everyone is enjoying the story. I'm modifying the story a little bit. There is still an over all plan I'm running with but this works better.**

**Remember, reviews bring the next chapter faster.**

**Thank you everyone for reading.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.**

* * *

Ashley ended up riding with Callen over to Eric's house. Nell and Eric drove their own cars and Callen felt she was safest with him, both physically and mentally. What he hadn't counted on was Ashley's unrelenting curiosity. He felt like he was on the wrong side of an interrogation.

"It's just G. You really don't know what it stands for?"

"Nope."

"Wow, I always thought it was just a security measure or a way to make you sound even more mysterious." Ashley did an imitation of the movie voice over. "'The deep cover agent that doesn't exist. He doesn't even have a name. Just a letter.' Do you have a favorite alcoholic beverage?

"Huh?"

"Alcohol. You do drink don't you?"

"Yes. I drink beer."

"Besides beer. You know some sort of mixed drink."

"Why?"

"James Bond of course. 'Callen. G Callen. I would like a…" Ashley tapped her finger against her lip thinking. "…Jack and Coke. You look like a Jack and Coke man. Wait that wouldn't work. Bourbon is made in America. How hard is it to get overseas?"

"I think it would be fine. Besides, it's bad to drink while on assignment. You need to keep your wits about you. If drinking starts, you just fake it and dump the contents when no one is looking. After about an hour, nobody notices you aren't drinking anymore because they have been."

"Don't fracture my fantasy. Next you will be telling me you don't drive expensive sports cars, have lots of shoot outs, visit exotic locations, and have inappropriate relationships with women of questionable moral values."

"Well, you are in the company Mercedes, so I guess that counts. I have been in my fair share of shootouts, but after you take a bullet, even adrenaline junkies try to avoid them. All the 'exotic' locations I've visited are either unimaginably cold or unforgivably hot and have entirely too much sand. As for the inappropriate relationships with women of questionable moral values, they didn't have anything to do with assignments, just my own bad judgment."

She went quiet so suddenly that Callen was starting to get worried. He was about to say something when she took off in an entirely different direction.

"Eric's not in trouble for helping me is he? I don't want him to get fired or imprisoned or anything. I know that he was taking a risk to help me but I was down to exactly zero options." Ashley had taken to looking out the window rather than at Callen for this conversation. He thought she might be trying to hide tears.

"No. Nothing like that. Hetty will play the angry boss roll for about a day and then things will spring back to normal. If you think this is bad, you should have seen the time he broke the internet. That was interesting."

She let out a soft laugh. "You think it was interesting. You should have seen Dark Net. They all wanted to know whose kung-fu was that strong?"

"Ok, that's the second time you've used that phrase 'kung-fu'. What do you mean by it?"

"It's an outdated geek term. Even other tech heads think I'm lame when I use it. It refers to a cracker's or hacker's skill. The stronger the kung-fu the better the talent. I just like the term and still use it. Other techies just roll their eyes at the old timer."

"Old timer? How old are you 23?"

"25, but I've been doing this since I was eight. Dad was a tech head, actually made a fortune building things. He had a shop at the house where he worked on his own projects and I would help. The really important stuff I know, I learned from him. I still use the terms he taught me because it makes me feel good."

"25? Man, I'm old." Callen laughed at himself.

"You wear it well." Ashley shot Callen a smile that he was sure had killed men.

Callen was a little concerned by the tickling at the back of his mind that the smile caused. "Thanks. I think."

* * *

Kensi and Deeks pulled up outside the house as the group entered. Kensi had insisted that they drive the SRX. She said it would be more comfortable to sit in than the Charger for eight to ten hours. Deeks had given in, but didn't buy her reason for a minute. He knew she wanted to take the Cadillac because she had more snacks stashed in it than she did in the Charger.

"We are on site. We are three houses south, left side of the street." Kensi said as a way of greeting.

"Welcome to the party guys." Callen responded.

"Who's on?"

"Me and Nell."

"Hey Kensi. Hey Deeks."

"How's it going Nell?" Kensi was genuinely interested in how her friend was dealing with things, but didn't want to embarrass her. She decided that an open ended statement was the way to approach things.

"Alright so far."

* * *

"So, why exactly is it alright for us to be at Eric's home if they know who he is?" Ashley asked as she set her stuff in the corner.

"Because this house doesn't belong to Eric Beale." Callen said like it explained everything. Ashley just looked confused.

"It belongs to George Henderson. He is a mid-level account manager at the state credit union downtown." Eric offered as an explanation.

"He's is originally from Oklahoma but after graduating college he moved to the coast. He keeps getting passed over for promotion due to a drinking problem. However, he has been clean for the last two years." Nell kindly offered.

"I don't know why Hetty did that." Eric whined.

"You know the deal, you have to add detail to make it believable." Judging by her tone, it was possible that Nell was enjoying this.

"That I know, but why a drunk?" Eric whined.

"Because your cover id was created the week Hetty caught you using the OPS computers to beta test a 'borrowed' copy of Far Cry."

"Ouch." Ashley let out a laugh. "Borrowed?"

"It was. I know the lead developer. He gave me a legitimate copy. I didn't steal anything." Eric got defensive. "OPS has such high resolution."

"Down boy." Nell said.

"The point being, is that this is a safe house on a permeant basis. Everyone lives under assumed names. We never use our own identities." Callen gave the reader's digest explanation.

"Wow. You guys really are secret agents."

"What?" Eric and Nell asked at the same time.

"Don't start that again." Callen turned away from Ashley toward Nell and Eric. "Don't ask and don't egg her on."

Eric and Nell both raised their hands in surrender.

Nell decided to change the subject. "You got here pretty quick, Ashley. Where did you fly from, certainly not from D.C.?"

"No. By the time I contacted Eric I was in Indianapolis. I left Washington D.C. the minute Langus warned me. I bought a bus ticket with cash. Getting away from D.C. was as far as my plan went. I knew I needed help. Eric was the only one I could trust. We had a standing gaming time, so I met him online and asked for help."

"That's when I decided that getting her here was the best thing. I didn't want to get everyone in trouble, but if things went as bad as Ashley thought they were, we could come to the team."

Nell spoke before Callen had a chance. "You should have come to the team first Eric. You know we would have helped."

"Yes, but what I did should have gotten me fired, at the very least, and possibly arrested. I couldn't ask that of you."

At that moment Nell and Callen pulled out their ear wigs. Callen was laughing.

"Kensi says that you chose poorly and next time you should come to the team first or she will be very disappointed." Nell said with a smile.

Callen looked at her amused. "That's not exactly what she said."

Nell winked at Eric and Callen. "I paraphrased."

Both agents put their ear wigs back in. "Message delivered Kensi." Nell said as she pulled her hand away from her ear.

* * *

Later when Callen was reading a book and Nell was getting a shower, Ashley finally managed to have a moment to talk to Eric in private.

"Why haven't you told them about you? Everyone has the wrong impression about our relationship."

"What about me? And we are friends."

"That's not what the red head thinks. I'm pretty sure she would have strangled me to death earlier if Kensi hadn't shown up. What's the deal between you two anyway? You dating?"

"No, we are not dating and there is no deal."

Ashley looked at her friend closely. "You're lying. There is a deal." She though about it for a minute. "How do you know there is a deal? No offense Eric, but you are clueless when it comes to women. For evidence I give you the fact that you have a woman who has feelings for you under the same roof as the woman whom she believes to be your ex-deal." The look of on Eric's face and in his eyes told her everything he was trying to hide. "She told you? No. She…she kissed you. She kissed you and the two of you still only have a deal? Good grief Eric, your worse than Densi. At least they got together."

"Will you be quiet? They might hear you."

"You act like she doesn't know she kissed you. But you still haven't answered my first question. Why haven't you told them about you?"

"I don't want my friends and coworkers thinking I'm a criminal."

"One, you aren't. Two, they came pretty quick earlier today when you very well could have been a criminal." Ashley could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't going to give up that secret. "Fine, it's your life." She stood up to leave the room. "Will you at least tell the red headed agent with the gun that I'm not an ex? I would prefer that she didn't kill me."

* * *

Everyone rolled into the Mission the following morning a little later that normal. Sam couldn't keep the smile off his face.

"Big night?"

Kensi set her stuff down on her desk. "I will stab you Sam. In the eye."

"Careful Sam, Princess Kensi hasn't had sugar or caffeine yet this morning. She may kill us all." Deeks attempted to warn the big ex-SEAL.

"Are you insane? You brought an un-caffeinated, un-sugared Kensi out in public? That has to be some sort of crime against humanity."

Kensi shot her best death glare at Sam and Deeks while pulling Twinkies from the emergency stash in her desk.

"At least the night was uneventful." Callen was trying to be optimistic.

"Yeah, well the day won't be. Granger is back. They want us up in OPS."

"Back from DC? In twenty-four hours? This is will not be a positive experience." Deeks followed the rest of the group up the stairs.

The first thing everyone noticed was how tired Granger looked. The next thing they noticed was he was wearing the same clothes he had on yesterday.

"This is Sam?" Granger said indicating Ashley.

She stepped forward. "Ashley Walters."

"Owen Granger, Assistant Director NCIS." He looked around at the team. "Who knows she is here?"

"Other than the fake agents we took her from? Nobody." Callen answered.

"Good. Hetty brought me up to speed on everything that has happened." Granger turned to Eric. "Mr. Beale. I trust that I don't have to impress upon you what will happen if you run off on your own again."

Eric just nodded his head.

"Forgive me if I ramble, I've been up a little while." Granger looked around the room at the 'no crap' smiles. "The NSA knows there is a leak. They've run two separate audits and haven't found anything. What Miss Walters found is the first evidence of the actual leak."

"If they don't know how information is leaking, how did they know there was one?" Sam asked the obvious question.

"Because three months ago over a dozen former and current special operation soldiers were arrested for receiving the information. They were supposed to intercept an exchange of opium for money between the Taliban and members of a Colombian cartel. They were spotted by an unscheduled medic flight and the Rangers picked them up after a brief firefight. That was the first firm evidence of the leak. There had been concerns pervious to that, but nothing firm. This was the first evidence that couldn't be denied."

"Ok, but we are dealing with a lot more here than a leak and a couple dozen ex-soldiers. This group has muscle and resources. The got to LA almost at the same time as Ashley and had a fall back team ready to bail them out." Callen pointed out.

"This seems high risk. Aren't there easier ways to steal data?" Deeks asked.

"One would think so, but it has been working for whoever is pulling the strings for quite some time now. It's not one of the ways routinely monitor by the NSA. Miss Walters found it by accident. Whoever is plugged into the NSA has a lot of money and a lot of reach. The head of the NSA, CIA, and Sec Nav are concerned. Since the NSA is compromised and the CIA doesn't have anything, it's now our turn."

"That's not much." Callen commented.

"That's what I told Director Vance. He told me that's why we get paid the big bucks. So, we start with what we have. Face and fingerprints from the fake agents and the information that we have thanks to Miss Walters. Until then, our primary duty is to protect Miss Walters." Granger finished handing the floor over to Hetty.

"Agents Deeks and Blye, we have the NSA imposters car in the garage. Please go through it and see if you can find anything. It's a long shot I admit, but we don't have much to go on. Agents Hanna and Callen please go talk to our friends at the NSA. Anything they can remember from yesterday's events may be helpful." Hetty handed out assignments.

"On it." Callen said as the four agents left the room.

"Hetty, Miss Jones a minute." Hetty and Nell walked over to Granger. "I need you to keep what I'm about to tell you absolutely quiet until we have proof. Run the voice that you have in the recording against Senator Greystall and everyone on his staff."

"Owen?" Hetty's question was also a warning.

"The information that the group of mercenaries was using came out of the intelligence committee briefing. Neither the NSA director nor Director Vance would tell me how they narrowed it down to him, but they know the information came from his office. You realize if any of this leaks our careers and lives are over. He has powerful connections, both inside and outside of government."

"What does he have to gain?" Hetty wasn't convinced.

"He has a lot of business interest that could benefit from the information. People have done worse for money."

"True." Hetty turned to Nell. "Agent Jones, don't do anything other than compare the voices. There is not be no sneaking into other systems and snooping around."

"Yes ma'am." Nell answered as she headed for the door.


	5. Finally, A Clue

**Here is the next chapter. The story is changing in little ways, that's why the gaps between updates are growing.**

**Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing. I'm flattered you enjoy reading what I enjoy writing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA**

* * *

"Well, this is a very clean car." Kensi realized what she had said a moment too late.

"Some people have been known to have them. There was a point in time when I did." Deeks answered back.

"You know what I mean. It doesn't look like this car has ever been driven before." Kensi pulled out her phone and took a picture of the VIN. Then she called Eric. "Can you run the VIN I just sent you? It's from the fake NSA car. Thanks Eric."

Deeks opened the center console. "Found their cell phone. It's encrypted. But, you are right. This car doesn't even have the normal buildup of dirt just from traffic." Deeks climbed out of the car and walked around to the front driver's side tire to look at it. "This car is either going to come back as stolen off a car lot or purchased in the last twenty four hours

Kensi looked at Deeks. "Brand new tires?"

"Oh yeah. Front tires don't even have the normal wear and tear from making turns. In LA traffic that will happen in the first week."

Kensi walked around to the back of the car and opened the trunk. "Finally!"

"Got something?" Deeks stood up from where he is was looking at the tires.

"Two backpacks. Even super agents have to carry stuff into the field." Kensi reached into the trunk pulling out the backpacks. She opened the first one and started going through its contents. "Clothes, extra magazines." Kensi pulls out a folded picture. "This looks like a picture of Ashley."

Deeks looked over Kensi's shoulder. "We need to ask Ashley her address. Looks like they got it from Langus and then went there to find her."

"Yeah. That picture definitely came from a framed picture." Kensi pulls out a tablet. "It's secure. Have to hand it over to the brain trust. Well at least we have something to go on. It's more than we had when we started." Kensi threw the bag and clothes back into the trunk. "Let's go show them what we found."

* * *

Showing up at the NSA office flashing NCIS badges got Sam and Callen a frown from the guard at the security desk. Never the less, he picked up the phone telling whoever was on the other end that NCIS had arrived.

An agent, that did not introduce herself, emerged from the elevator a short time later asking them to follow her. She led them to an office on the top floor.

A woman in her late fifties was sitting behind a large desk with several computer monitors on it. She looked like she hadn't slept since the incident yesterday. She rose from the desk to greet Callen and Sam. "Ann Kraft, office chief. You two are NCIS?"

"Yes. We did the initial interview with the two men that escaped." Callen shook the offered hand, as did Sam.

"What can you tell me about them?"

"Not much." Sam admitted. "We interrogated them for over an hour. They didn't even give the names of the agents they were impersonating again. Just sat there, staring at us. They were just waiting for the jail break they knew was waiting for them."

"All this has to do with agent Langus getting killed along with one of his assets? And you are missing someone as well?"

"We got our guy back when we grabbed the two fakes." Callen offered. "At least one other analyst is missing, presumed dead, and the rest of Langus's people are unaccounted for." Callen was sticking with the story that no one knew where Ashley was. He had already lead the mole in the NSA to her once. He wasn't going to slip up and do it again.

"Langus was good people. Whoever got one over on him is serious trouble. I've already been given marching orders by Fort Meade to help in any way I can, and I will, but I don't know there is much I can offer you. We just got schooled at home. We are lucky that they decided all they wanted to do was escape. They could have just as easily killed my two guys."

"Probably didn't want the extra trouble from executing two federal agents in broad daylight." Callen stated flatly. "It certainly isn't because they are squeamish. We've seen the pictures of Langus. They took their time getting him to talk."

"We've seen the footage from the traffic cams. The group had been waiting for the two individuals to show up thirty minutes after we grabbed them. It wasn't anything more sophisticated that waiting and watching." Sam offered.

"Well that doesn't give me much to go on." Kraft sighed.

"This whole case hasn't given anyone much to go on." Callen agreed. He stood from the chair. "We will get out of your way. You have more than enough work to get done without us here."

Everyone shook hands. "We'll let you know if we find anything." Sam offered as they head for the door.

"We will do the same. " Kraft responded.

* * *

Nell had been running down Granger's suggestion for hours. She had ruled out the senator easily. She hadn't expected him to be foolish enough to do the contact even if he was involved. The problem was that she didn't know how or where to get voice prints of the senator's staff. She banged her head against the wall for half an hour before she had an idea. She didn't like the idea, but she needed to get the job done.

"Assistant Director Granger." Nell said standing in front of the man's desk.

He looked up from this laptop. "What can I do for you Miss Jones?"

"I would like to bring in Miss Walters to help me with the voice identification. She is with the NSA and might be able to help me find a way to compare the rest of the voices on the Senator's staff."

Granger thought about it for a minute. "It's her life on the line. Bring her in, but keep it to a dull roar. I like my job and I assume you do as well."

"Yes sir." Nell turned from the desk. Now she just had to go to Miss Walters for help.

Nell found her at the temporary location they had set up for her to go through the information that was on the hard drives that she had brought. It appeared to Nell that she was very involved with what she was doing, so she was surprised when she acknowledged her without turning around.

"Hi, Nell."

"Hello." Nell couldn't bring her to say her first name. "I was hoping I could get your help with something."

Ashley turned from her keyboard. "Absolutely, but there is something I want to talk to you about first."

"I don't think we…"

"I am not now, nor have I ever been, romantically attracted to or involved with Eric Beale. Nor he in me."

Nell had no idea how to respond. She didn't know if she should simply agree, or if she should pretend she didn't know why she would say that, or just walk away. For better or worse, she never got a chance.

"I know you have feelings for Eric and trust me, he is wild about you. I'm not a threat to whatever 'thing' the two of you have."

Nell cringed at the word thing. It made her and Eric sound like Deeks and Kensi.

"In fact, I really hope the two of you hit it off. Eric needs someone in his life. The fact that you are trying so hard to hide the way you feel and still be nice to me even though you think I might be after Eric shows that you are a really good person. I would also like to thank you for not stabbing me in the throat. You obviously have combat training and I'm just a keyboard cowboy."

Nell stood there frozen. She had been totally unprepared for this conversation.

"You don't have to say anything. I asked Eric to tell you all this, but that would mean he would have to admit his feelings to you and I guess he's not up for that yet. So, in an act of self-preservation, I'm telling you, I'm not a threat." Ashley stood up from her seat. "What can I help you with?"

Nell shook her head side to side slightly to clear it. "I'm running something down for assistant director Granger. I'm trying to compare the voice of staff members from Senator Greystall's staff. The senator is easy to get, but I don't having anything to compare his staff to."

"That's easy. The public phones coming out of the congressional offices are monitored. We just run it against the public record."

"Really?" Nell was shocked.

"The phones in the offices each have a private line that isn't monitored but most calls going out go through the switch board, so they get recorded for legal and security reasons. We can access the system from here."

"Won't that tip off the Senator that we are looking at him? Granger wants us to keep this low key."

"Well then we can grab more than we need and use a supervisor logon to hide who we really are."

"You are sneaky."

"Occupational hazard working for the NSA." Ashley smiled as she turned around and started typing away at her keyboard. "I'll pull the voice files to a NSA server first and then route them here. That should keep the NCIS clean. I'll let you know when I've got it done."

* * *

Deeks and Kensi walked into the mission at the same time Sam and Callen did.

"That is not the face of a person who found something." Deeks looked Sam and Callen in the eye.

"No." Sam shook his head. "It is not. What about you guys."

"Cell phone and tablet, both encrypted." Deeks said holding up the two devices. "Hopefully the brain trust can find something."

They walked over to the work area down stairs finding Nell and Ashley hard at work. Deeks handed them the two devices. Nell and Ashley each picked up one.

"Where are these from?" Nell asked.

"The fake agent's car." Kensi answered.

Nell and Ashley immediately set both devices back down. Nell picked up the phone dialing Eric. "Can you come down here please?"

When Eric arrived Hetty was with him.

Ashley pointed to the two devices. "These are from the fake agents."

Eric just looked at them laying on the table without making a move.

"Guys?" Callen prompted.

"We need to take these to the boatshed." Eric finally stated.

"Why?" Deeks asked.

"Because these two systems have most likely been set up by the person that raided an NSA secure communications satellite. I'm not about to plug either of these things into the secure Mission network. I'll put them in at the boat shed on the sandbox network. There is no telling what these things will do when they boot up."

"Like what?" Sam and Kensi asked at the same time.

Ashley answered. "Any number of things. Send out a GPS location email or instant message. Release a virus, Trojan, or worm. Delete themselves. Copy everything they are close to. Who knows?"

"Gather what you need. The team will escort you to the boat shed with the two devices."

Ashley looked over at Nell. "My program is still running so we got time to do this."

Nell looked at Hetty. "Will you tell Assistant Director Granger?"

"Don't worry about Owen, Miss Jones. I will deal with him."

As Nell, Eric, and Ashley went about getting there supplies, the rest of the team went back to their desk.

"You know, I've been thinking about what happened at the NSA office yesterday."

Everyone turned and looked at Sam.

"I don't think the truck was there to spring the two fakes." Sam could tell by the look on everyone's face that they weren't following him. "The fakes had Ashley and Eric. They were already impersonating NSA agents before they saw us. They threw the cover at us easy. I think they were going to take Ashley and Eric back to the NSA building to have her do something to the servers there. Like delete the evidence she had, wipe files, etc. The truck out front was there incase anything went wrong with their operation at the building. That's why they arrived so quickly. They were expecting the fakes to show up quickly."

Callen, Kensi, and Deeks all thought about what Sam was saying.

"I can see that." Callen agreed. "Explains why the truck was there so soon. Why they hit the car in front of the building rather than in route."

"Definitely takes away from the spooky 'we know what's going on before you do' thing they had going on." Deeks offered.

About that time, Nell, Ashley, and Eric showed back up with cases of stuff.

"Ashley, you are with me and Sam. The wonder twins are with Deeks and Kensi." Callen pointed at everyone as he spoke.

"We'll take the Charger." At Deeks's statement, Kensi went to her desk pulling out snack cakes and candies.

"Alright let's get this circus on the road." Sam took a case from Nell and headed for the door. "This is worse than when my family goes on vacation."

* * *

After arriving at the boathouse, it took half an hour to get everything set up. After everything was plugged in, powered up, and humming along, the brain trust stopped. All three just stared at the tablet and the phone sitting on the table.

"Guys?" Kensi walked over to Nell and Ashley.

"Eric is the hardware guy. We go with his move." Ashley said while Nell nodded her head.

"Let's start with the tablet." Eric said picking it up and plugging in a USB cable. He turned to the team. "We are going to power up the tablet, crack it so we can access it, and then attach it to the secondary wireless network. That way whatever happens, it will be isolated to this building."

Nell pulled a device out of a case on the floor. "This will jam all the cell signals for five hundred feet." After plugging in the device, she hit the glowing red button turning it green.

Deeks watched the bars on this cell phone go away. "Wow that is cool and kind of scary." Kensi looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "We are now completely isolated. We couldn't contact anyone electronically if we wanted to."

"Well, here goes nothing." Eric pushed the power button on the tablet.


	6. Confessions

**Thank goodness for reviews. I had completely screwed up this chapter and couldn't figure out what was wrong until reading the reviews made me realize my mistake. Thanks guys. I'm now happy with this chapter and I hope you will be as well. **

**Keep the comments coming.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.**

* * *

As the tablet powered up the three techs stared at it like it might explode. As the screen came up to the log on screen, nothing happened.

"Well that was anti-climactic." Sam looked at everyone waiting for some sort of response.

Eric looked up with an aggravated grimace. "I haven't tried to bypass the log in yet. Nothing is going to happen until I do that or possibly not until I try to break the encryption protocols."

Sam raised his hands in the air signaling he wasn't trying to start a fight.

Eric cracked all the knuckles on both his hands and began typing on the computer hooked to the tablet. After about a minute he stopped.

"What is it?" Nell started looking over his shoulder.

Ashely spoke first. "It's an actual NSA tablet. Not just a copy or set up kind of like an NSA tablet. It's an actual NSA tablet."

Eric started typing again when the laptop sitting in front of Nell started blinking through screens and making noises. "We just trapped a cell signal giving the GPS coordinates of the tablet." Nell hit a few keys. "I have the IP address of the machine it was sent to."

"But the signal didn't get sent, right?" Callen wanted to be sure.

"Nope. Nobody but us heard the distress call."

"Depending what else you find, I might have an idea."

* * *

Once he got past the encryption, it didn't take Eric long to discover that there wasn't much else on the device.

"It looks like this is mainly used for email. I can pull the emails that are stored locally, but even if I knew the id and password logging onto the mail server would be a bad idea.

Kensi didn't even get a chance to ask the question before Ashely answered.

"They could track the device. They could delete its contents. They would know we have it and that we had compromised it. They could then plant information to throw us off the trail."

"Or trap us." Eric finished.

Nell got a questioning look on her face. "The two of you sound like you've done this before."

"Several times before." Deeks added.

Eric completely ignored the comments. "Here are the emails. Wow, looks like these guys got orders from D.C.. Emails about Langus, what he said, Ashley, what they found at her place."

"Crap!" Ashely exclaimed. "Guess that confirms my apartment is a total loss."

"Here is an email about me and how I'm missing as well. They assume I'm helping Ashley, so they alert the group here."

"What's the timestamp on the email about you, Eric?" Sam inquired.

"A little after 8:30 AM."

"That's right after our call with Devro and Sellings." Callen sighed. "Sorry Eric."

"Hey, this is interesting. That last email that came through had an attachment." Eric hit several buttons to bring up the document. "It's a schematic of the NSA offices. There are even access codes for the secure doors."

Kensi looked over at Sam. "I guess that proves your theory. They wanted Ashely and Eric to do something from inside the NSA secure network."

"That's about it for the tablet. Looks like it's a cut out for orders."

Eric powered down his system along with the tablet. "Next up, the phone"

Nell and Ashley helped him move things around to get the phone hooked up. When they all sat back down again, Eric turned his laptop and the phone on.

"The security on this is much less than the tablet." He tapped away at his board for a minute before finally leaning back in his chair. "Yep. This has only made phone calls and only to about half a dozen numbers. Most are local, but two are east coast."

"Now we are getting somewhere." Ashley exclaimed. "One of the east coast phones is a burner cell, so that's a loss. The other is…" Ashley tapped Nell on her shoulder.

Nell leaned over to look at the screen. "Damn!"

Sam waited for one of them to explain. When it became apparent they weren't going to share, he lost his patience. "What!?"

Nell looked up at everyone. "It routes back to a secure phone. A secure phone currently in use by the NSA. We can't track or record it, but whoever has this phone is the leak."

"Finally, some headway." Callen exclaimed. "Alright, we leave the devices here in the safe. Everything else goes back to the Mission with us. I have a plan but I want to run it by Hetty and Granger."

* * *

While everyone else headed up to OPS, Eric, Nell, and Ashley put the equipment back where it belonged. As Eric entered the storage room to put up the cell blocker, Nell followed him in and closed the door behind them.

Eric hadn't heard the door shut. After setting the case on the shelf, he turned around stopping short, when he saw Nell standing there. He wasn't sure what was happening, but it was certainly warm in the small room.

"So, Eric, I had a little talk with Ashley."

"You did? About what?"

"Is seems you've been keeping something from me." Nell took a step into Eric's space. He instinctively took a step back, bumping into the shelves behind him.

"Keeping something? No, no. I don't think so." He was going to kill Ashley. She was supposed to be his friend. He had risked so much to save her life and in the first 24 hours here she tells Nell his biggest secret.

"I think so." Nell took another step into Eric. He flattened himself up against the shelves but there was nowhere for him to move. He could feel the heat radiating off of Nell's body, she was so close. "I'm really attracted to you to." With that she reached up grabbing Eric's head, pulling it down while raising up on her tiptoes.

When their lips met, Eric felt his brain completely short circuit. Nell Jones was kissing him. The NSA agents from yesterday had obviously killed him and this was heaven. He was going to have to do something really nice for Ashley, because he was positive she was behind this.

Nell pulled back from the kiss. She wiped the lipstick off of Eric's mouth and straightened his shirt. "Now, we will talk about this more later."

"Later." Eric said absentmindedly.

"Yes, later." Nell let a small smile creep across her face. "Right now, we have to go upstairs to OPS to tell Hetty and Granger what we found. Can you do that?"

Eric just nodded his head in the affirmative.

Nell laughed. "Why don't you take a minute to gather your thoughts and I'll see you up there."

Eric nodded again.

With that, Nell turned and left the storage room and a completely dazed Eric, heading for OPS.

* * *

Ten minutes later Eric, looking mostly composed and only getting slightly unusual looks from Callen, Deeks, and Sam, entered OPS. He avoided looking at Ashley and Kensi altogether as he made his way to his seat.

Now that everyone had arrived, Callen let the brain trust explain what they found on the two devices and what had happened when it had been accessed.

When they finished Hetty spoke. "It appears that you have a plan, Agent Callen?"

"Yes. I want to send the tablet location alert. Problem is, it would burn a safe house. If we can lure them to us, makes things a lot easier. It would also get the immediate threat off of Ashley's back."

Granger was skeptical. "I'm sure they would be ready for a trap. These guys aren't idiots or sloppy."

"Of course they will think it's a trap. That's why they will run surveillance and find a house that has been abandoned quickly. When they see the house, they contact the leak back in Washington. We follow them to see where they go after that. When we've learned what we can, we swoop in and round them up." Callen turned to the three tech's standing next to one another. "I'm hoping you guys will find a way to find or listen to the phone in Washington."

Nell was first to speak. "That's a secure phone. Sure the NSA could crack it, but it's theirs. We don't have anyone that can. And if we did, we don't have the equipment."

"Eric can." Ashley said looking at Eric, who looked like he had just been pulled into the principal's office for fighting.

"Ash!" Eric looked both betrayed and scared.

"Come on, Eric. Now isn't the time to hide. Our lives are on the line. Cracking secure communication systems is your thing. You helped design the system the NSA is using."

"I don't do that anymore." Eric found his voice.

"Don't give me that. You game against me and the duo at CIA all the time. We shutdown hackers all the time. You are still elite."

The rest of the room, minus Hetty, just looked on in surprise at the argument occurring in front of them. Sam managed to get the question out first "What!?"

Eric looked defeated as he began to tell the story. "I originally became a member of NCIS as a deal to avoid prison. Ash and I accessed and browsed a lot of secure servers in high school. We never broke anything, or stole anything, but it wasn't legal. We got caught when we accessed a secure navy defense contractor's server. NCIS was in the middle of a sting operation to catch actual spies and we blundered into it. That's when we got offered the deal to join up rather than serve hard time. I went to NCIS because they weren't as uptight as the other agencies. I worked off my time, got my degree, and stayed because I liked the work. I've kept my nose clean sense then. I haven't done anything outside of my job duties."

OPS was completely silent for several heartbeats.

"That is so cool!" Deeks exclaimed.

Kensi immediately hit him in the shoulder giving him the 'will you just stop' glare.

"Ow. What? It is! We are secret agents backed up by a world renowned hacker. This would be a bestselling book and block buster movie. Maybe even a hit TV show."

"Deeks, do I need to slug you again?" Kensi eyed him dangerously.

"Alright. I'm just saying." Deeks looked a little defeated.

Granger squeezed the bridge of his nose with the thumb and forefinger. "Can you do it or not Mr. Beale?"

Eric turned to face the assistant director. "Yes, but I'm going to need to get something. I could build it myself, but it would take to long."

"You are about to tell me, the assistant director of a federal law enforcement agency that you need to procure illegal items to perform an even more illegal action, aren't you?" Granger said staring Eric down.

"Ah?" Eric hesitated for a moment. "No?" Eric looked around the room for support.

Granger smiled, causing more than just a little unrest in the room. "I'm messing with you Beale. Just get it done." With that Granger left the room.

* * *

Hetty and Granger authorized Callen's plan, but didn't want Eric or Ashley to actually ever be at the house. That wasn't a problem for Callen, because he didn't want them physically there either.

As the group walked down the stairs, Callen asked the obvious question. "Eric, this piece of technology you need, what is it, and where are you going to get it?"

"I know a guy that builds black boxes for accessing secure phone networks. It's mostly just a rebuilt laptop with special software. Before everything went digital, the box actually interfaced with the analog system. Now, that everything is computerized, the software will let us by pass most of the security and decrypt the signal in real time."

"You still know people like that?" Nell was a little surprised.

Eric looked embarrassed. "We game together. I haven't done anything illegal, but I do like to know what is going on."

"I assume this is going to cost us money?" Callen asked trying to bring the conversation back on course.

"Yes."

"How much?" Callen knew the answer wasn't going to be good and he was the one that was going to have to go Hetty to get it.

"That depends on how desperate he realizes we are and how much he wants to gouge me."

Callen sighed. "Alright. Take Nell and Sam. Go get this device and then get back here."

"Why are Sam and I going?" Nell was curious.

"Because, Eric is going to negotiate with a geek. I'm sending the two biggest weaknesses that geeks have, a beautiful smart woman and a big irritable jock. Whichever one of you has the most influence, keep the price down."

Sam would like to have argued but had to admit to the wisdom of the decision. "You do have a point."

"I don't know if I should be flattered or insulted." Nell said as she, Sam, and Eric headed toward the door.


	7. Setting The Trap

**Here we are, the set up. I'm trying to move the characters along here, so Eric and G may seem a little ooc, but I want them to change a little bit.**

**Please keep the reviews coming. I know I don't respond to all of them, but life gets in the way. I'm just glad I still get to write and everyone takes the time to read. Thanks for that. I really appreciate it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.**

* * *

"Mr. Callen."

G whirled as Hetty appeared out of nowhere. "Yes, Hetty."

"Might I recommend informing our friends at the NSA about what we found on the fake agent's devices?"

"Sure, but we are still keeping Ashley's whereabouts and condition quiet, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Callen, we are." Hetty turned to leave. "Let them draw any conclusions they see fit, but confirm nothing."

"Will do." Callen made his way over to his desk to make the call.

Ashley followed him over. "You mind if I listen in?"

"Not at all, just don't say anything. You are officially missing."

"Will do."

Callen dialed the number and it was picked up on the first ring. "This is agent Kraft."

"Agent Kraft, Agent Callen, NCIS."

"What can I do for you agent Callen?"

"I wanted to let you know that we found some interesting things in the fake agent's car. We found a schematic of your entire building along with several access codes."

There was quiet on the line for a few minutes. "Can you give me the codes you found?"

Callen took out the notes he had taken and read off the two series of numbers.

"Damn it. I have to go. Those are the access codes to the satellite communication control room. Even on a secure line I'm not going to tell you what that is. We have a serious situation here." With that the phone went dead.

"That is all sorts of bad." Callen looked up to see Ashley wide eyed.

"Can you explain?" The look on her face had him very worried.

"Military post, Naval ships, Embassies, etc., all have secure communications rooms, just like your OPS. Each room has as assigned or a series of assigned satellites and ground lines to use depending on need and security. The NSA has node points that can access everything, any satellite, and ground node in the system. With access to that room and those codes they could have gone into literally any communication system, outside of DOD specific ones, and done anything."

"Anything?"

"Ok, that's oversimplifying it. They would have to have extensive knowledge of the NSA protocols and systems."

"Like you have?"

"Yes, like I have." The realization of what they were going to do hit Ashley like a truck. She sat down in Kensi's chair because it was the closest thing to fall into. "They were going to make me do something to the system and then kill me and Eric. I think I'm going to be sick."

Callen got up from this chair, getting down on his knees in front of Ashley. He took her hands in his. "Calm down, Ashley. Calm down. Take deep breaths. Deep breaths."

Ashley looked up at Callen when he grabbed her hands. She stared into his eyes and took the deep breaths he asked her to.

"You're OK here. We are going to keep you safe. That's our job." Looking into Ashley's deep green eyes, Callen saw the fear and panic there. He reacted instinctively to her pain, wrapping his arms around her, as the young woman quietly sobbed into his chest. He rubbed small, soft circles into her back hoping to calm her down. He was aware that he had crossed some sort of line, but she obviously needed the support and she didn't seem to upset about it.

After a few minutes Ashley managed to calm down. "Sorry about that. I'm sure you're use to this sort of thing, but I kind of like my little electronic world. I'm not the adrenaline junky type."

Callen smiled a little. "Yeah, well, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Trust me." Callen stood up from his kneeling position. "You alright?"

"Yeah. I think I'm done. Now, I'm just embarrassed."

"Don't be. Something like this should affect you. There is nothing wrong with showing it. We are the damaged ones, keeping it all inside, hiding everything from everyone."

"You aren't damaged."

"You've only known me for two days. Hang around a little while and you will see all of us are a little different."

Ashley pulled a tissue from the box on Kensi's desk, cleaning her eyes with it. "I might just do that."

* * *

"This place looks like a dump." Sam had just pulled the Challenger out in front of what could only be considered a derelict building. "Actually, this place makes dumps look nice."

"Last place you would expect to find high tech, right?"

Sam nodded his head.

"Exactly. Also, the power is ripped off from the steel factory down the block. Their bill is so high, they don't even know anything is being done." Eric started walking from the car toward the front of the building when he stopped suddenly. "Did you guys bring your guns?"

Sam looked at Nell who nodded her head in the affirmative. "Yes, why?"

"Just checking."

"You aren't making me feel better about this, Eric." Nell hissed.

Eric continued toward the run down store front and opened the door. "Bash! Bash! Where are you?"

A lanky, short-haired, pale man in his early thirties came walking out from a back room. "Eric, what are you doing here? And you brought FEDS?" The young man turned to make a break for the back room where he had just come from.

"Wait!" Eric yelled. "Yes he's a FED, but we aren't here about you. We need equipment."

Bash got a strange look on his face like he wasn't sure he believed him. It wasn't until his eyes wandered from the former SEAL to Nell that his attitude changed. "What's your name, good looking?"

Nell rolled her eyes. She was about to say something, but was cut off.

"What sort of equipment?" Bash never took his eyes off Nell, or more importantly, parts of Nell.

"My eyes are up here." Nell said pointing to her face.

"We need a digital black box."

That actually got Bash to look away from Nell. "Why do you need a black box? Hardware is you thing, you should have…" Realization dawned in Bash's eyes. "You don't have time to build it yourself, do you?"

Sam took a step forward but Eric held out his hand. "No. No, I don't." Eric saw the smile come across Bash's face. "What's the cost, Bash?"

"Well, short time frame, helping Uncle Sam, committing a federal crime…"

"How much Bash?" Eric could tell this was going from bad to worse.

"Five grand…"

"FIVE GRAND!" Sam yelled.

"…and a date with the hot red head."

"WHAT?" Nell was instantly seething.

Confrontation wasn't Eric's thing. It never had been. It never would be. It was the biggest reason that he never wanted to be an agent. Not just being shot at, he didn't like the thought of being in a tiny room fighting with people. However, every person has their breaking point and Bash had just hit Eric's.

"Five thousand dollars and a date with the hot red head?" Eric walked over to look Bash directly in the eye. He had about six inches on the other man. "How about this. You go back there, to wherever you came from, and bring me the best black box you have. You do that and I'll give you…" Eric reached into his pocket pulling out money. "…five hundred dollars."

Bash actually laughed. "Why would I do that, Eric?"

"Because, Sebastian, if you don't, this former Navy SEAL right here will break both your arms, I will go back there, get the black box myself, and I will enter you into the Homeland Security system as a known terrorist for hire." Eric took step forward. "I will commit computer crimes to frame you for. The NSA will be listening to you phone calls, reading your text messages, and viewing your browsing history. The minute you log onto any network, fifty guys in black body armor with automatic weapons will be kicking in the door. So unless you want an all-expenses paid vacation to club FED, get the black box!"

Bash didn't say a word and walked back into the back room.

Eric just sort of deflated, taking large breaths.

"What was that?" Nell beat Sam to the question.

"I'm not sure. He just…"

"I don't care what it was, it worked." Sam cut him off.

It only took a moment for Bash to reappear with a laptop. He set it on the counter. "Here it is."

Eric opened the laptop turning it on. "We will see about that." Sixty seconds later, Eric powered down the machine. "We're good." Eric handed Bash the five hundred dollars. "Nice doing business with you."

"We good Eric?" Bash looked genuinely concerned.

"We're good." With that Eric lead Sam and Nell out of the building.

"I can't believe that worked." Sam said as he opened the door to the Challenger. He looked over the roof of the car at Nell and Eric. "I'm impressed and I'm glad it did, but I still don't believe it." With that Sam got in the car.

Nell opened the door so Eric could climb into the back seat. As he moved passed her she whispered. "I don't know, I thought it was kind of hot."

Eric was glad that Sam didn't look in the rearview mirror to see his red face as they drove back to the mission.

* * *

By the time Eric, Nell, and Sam got back to the Mission, it was late. The three found Ashley and Callen in the bullpen sitting at Callen's desk. Callen saw the trio, so he stood up as they approached.

"How did it go?"

"Eric was the man." Sam said clapping Eric on the back. Eric cringed at the contact. "We got out of there without doing any damage and spending only $500." Sam let out a laugh. "He even managed to keep Nell from having go out on date with the guy."

Ashley's interest was pricked. "What? Do tell?"

Eric started turning colors which just egged Sam on more. "The guy wanted five grand and a date with Nell. Eric completely freaked. I've never seen anything like it. I didn't know he had it in him. Threated to frame the guys for working with terrorist and then report him to homeland security." Sam started laughing again. "I believe the exact phrase was 'all expenses-paid vacation to club FED."

At that Callen started chuckling. "Wait to we tell Deeks."

At that, Eric's voice began working again. "No, guys, you wouldn't. Between him and Kensi, I will never hear the end of it. It's this enough embarrassment?"

Sam, Callen, Ashley, and Nell all exchanged a look while answering together. "No!"

Eric just hung his head while heading up the stairs. "I'll be in OPS."

"So, what now?" Nell asked. "It's late. Are we doing this tonight?"

"Well, I don't sleep. Sam slept at home last night, and Kensi and Deeks are currently sacked out in the gym. We see how much time it takes Eric to set up his new toy then we start this thing."

With that the four followed Eric's path up the stairs to OPS. As they entered G saw Eric plugging in his new toy.

"So, how long will it take you to set this up?"

"Well, the hardware and software are good. I'm going to make some modifications, but that's easy. I'll need Ash to help me get it wired into the NSA system without getting seen."

Ashely walked around the table. "No problem. We can use the same exploit they are using. That should cover our tracks pretty well."

"How long?" Sam asked.

Eric looked at Ashley. "About an hour?" Ashley nodded her head in agreement.

"Excellent, I'll go grab a nap."

Callen turned to Nell. "Is the pad ready to send its location?"

"Yep." She handed him a USB drive. "Plug this in and it will attempt a pretty impressive decryption. That will trigger the alert."

"Excellent. Well as soon as you two are ready, let us know and we can begin this thing."

* * *

In the end it took an hour and a half, but Sam, Kensi, and Deeks didn't complain. Nell on the other hand, did. She wasn't happy about being left in the office, but at least Callen handled it better than last time, so there were no meltdowns.

Callen and Sam left in the Challenger for the safe house first. Deeks and Kensi followed later in the SRX. Nobody had seen it yet, so no one would look at it twice sitting in the street.

Sam and Callen entered the safe house and waited for Kensi and Deeks to arrive.

"OPS, you on?" Callen checked the comms.

"We are all here." Eric answered.

"Everything is ready on your end?"

"Yes." Ashley was wired in as well. "We have the black box wired into the NSA system. We will know what call to look for based on when they make the call from their side."

That's when Kensi came on. "We are here. Ready when you are guys."

"Alright, here we go." Callen answered. "Powering it on and plugging in the USB drive."

Thirty seconds later Nell came on. "The signal just got sent guys. Time to leave."

"We are out of here." Callen and Sam headed for the door.


	8. Springing The Trap

**My next story is going to be much less complicated. It has to be a bad sign when a writer has to go back a review his plot to be sure he has the right set of bad guys.**

**Thank you everyone for reading and keep the follows,** **the favorites, and reviews coming.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.**

* * *

Kensi and Deeks watched as Sam and Callen walked out to the Challenger.

"Should be anytime now, guys." Sam said.

"Yep. We'll keep an eye out." Deeks answered. As the Challenger pulled away, Deeks looked at Kensi. "Once again, our favorite pastime, sit in the car and wait."

"Got some place to be, Shaggy?" Kensi challenged.

"Well, I did have a date with this smoking hot brunette planned, but she cancelled on me. Apparently, she has to work or something."

"So, what were you eating on this hot date?" Kensi reached into the console pulling out a sack cake.

Deeks just laughed. "Something better than that. I was going to let her pick."

"So you were eating Yummy Yummy Heart Attack?"

"No, I was thinking more Mexican. Tacos maybe?"

Kensi smiled at Deeks. "Tacos sound good."

About that time the large truck from the incident at the NSA building turned the corner behind them.

"Guys, the truck from the smash and grab the other day just turned the corner and is coming up the block." Kensi relayed into the comms.

The truck approached slowly so as not to draw attention to itself in the quiet neighborhood. It stopped three houses from its destination.

"We have four armed targets leaving the truck heading for the house. They are wearing body armor, night vision, and have sub machine guns." Kensi described the scene.

"Rolling kind of heavy." Sam offered.

"Alright, two are head for the front door and two are going around back. The two at the front door are waiting, so they are obviously wired up. Ok, they just kicked in the front door."

Everything was quiet for some time as the four individuals were inside the house.

"The cell scanner in the house is picking up a call." Nell had been waiting for this. Before setting off the tablet's GPS locator, Sam had set up a cell scanner in the attic of the safe house. This allowed Nell to grab the outgoing cell signal, even if it was a burn phone. This would give the team the information necessary to follow the call to the secure NSA network. "Alright I've got the call. It's going to your east coast number."

* * *

Back at OPS, Ashley and Eric were watching the NSA network waiting for the call to appear.

"Got it." Eric said after a tense few seconds. "We now have the call from both ends. These guys are definitely in contact with someone cleared with the NSA. Bringing the call up now."

_The house is abandoned. Looks like they left the minute they realized what the tablet was doing. They even left it behind. Probably didn't want to risk it tracking them._

_What else is there?_

_Nothing. It was a safe house. They didn't bring much, so they didn't have to take much when they left._

_You are sure it's NCIS?_

_Yes. They took the car when they grabbed Williams and Curry._

_And they have both analyst?_

_Yes, sir._

_Turn the house upside down. Find anything that you can to find both of them. When you find them, let me know._

_Yes, sir._

"The call just ended." Ashley let everyone know.

"I'm getting the location of the NSA phone now." Both Nell and Ashley peered over Eric's shoulder as he watched the GPS coordinates appear on the screen. "Now I just see where these coordinates take us." The computer only took a few moments to spit out an address. "Wow, a place in Georgetown, nice."

"Who lives there?" Callen's voice rang out over the speaker in OPS.

"A Justin Cruiser."

"That's Senator's Graystall's chief of staff."

"Then we need to find out everything we can about Mr. Cruiser, immediately." The group in OPS jumped at the sound of Hetty's voice. Ashley even let out a little squeak. "I'll let Assistant Director Granger know what you have found."

* * *

"They have left the house and are headed back to the truck." Deeks informed everyone. He and Kensi both ducked down in the seats as the truck rolled by them. As Kensi pulled out to follow from a safe distance a thought occurred to Deeks. "Sam, how close are you?"

"About three blocks south, why?"

"These guy are rolling awful heavy. If they make us, we are going to need some serious back up."

"Headed your way. We will stay a block back, just let us know the turns."

"Roger that."

Thirty-five minutes later, Kensi watched the truck pull into a downtown parking garage. "Guys, they just pulled into a parking garage. When you get here, we can enter on foot."

Sam and Callen parked the Challenger around the corner and walked up to the Cadillac. Deeks hopped out when they arrived.

"Eric, what is this place?" Sam asked.

"It's one of those for rent office buildings. You have a business, you rent the office here to look very professional, but you work out of your home most of the time."

"It's a front building for a front company." Deeks said with a grin.

"Deeks." Kensi said rolling her eyes.

"Right. Work time. Sorry." Deeks didn't stop smiling. He wasn't really sorry.

As the group crossed the street into the parking garage, they began searching floor by floor. On the fifth floor they found the truck along with two more government looking Impalas.

"The cars still have paper plates." Sam pointed out.

"Now what?" Kensi asked.

"We know that they are in this building. We can go in and search tonight, risking a firefight with heavily armed individuals, or we cut for the night and regroup in the morning."

"We aren't going to learn anything from a shootout and dead bodies." Sam offered.

"Especially our dead bodies." Deeks added.

"Tomorrow it is." Callen lead the group out of the garage and back to the mission.

* * *

Nell, Eric, Ashely, and Callen stayed at the Mission for the night. As a result when Granger arrived at 7 AM that morning they were already in OPS working.

"Callen I thought you bought a house?" Granger asked as he entered.

"Yes, but the furnishings at the Mission are much more plush."

"I'm sure." Granger walked over to the screen they were looking at. "What do we have here?"

Nell took over the conversation. "This is Justin Cruiser, chief of staff for Senator Greystall. He is also a reserve officer in army intelligence as well as a founder of private security and intelligence firm. This is who the men that responded to the GPS signal from the tablet last night contacted."

"That explains the leaks. He would be part of the Senator's Intelligence committee briefings and given his back ground in intelligence, he knows how to cover his tracks."

"That also explains why every time the NSA went looking for a leak, they didn't find one." Hetty stepped from behind Granger. Everyone in the room stiffened visibly.

Ashley leaned over to Nell "Does she always just appear like that?"

"Yes."

"Now, Agent Callen, what did your team find last night when following our four friends."

"We followed them to a parking garaged attached to an office building where people rent offices for appearance sake. You can rent them for the week, month, etc. Given the way they were armed, we didn't think that starting a firefight in the middle of the city at night was a good idea. Especially since we were completely outgunned. We were going to go to pay a visit today."

"Do be careful Mr. Callen. I would prefer that no one end up in the hospital on this mission."

"So would I, Hetty. So would I."

"What should we do about Mr. Cruiser?" Granger inquired. "The phone call is enough to burn him, but I want to put down all the people he's working with."

"I agree completely Owen. We still have to determine whether the Senator is involved in this as well."

"At the very least, wait till we run our operation at the office building today. After that we can work out our next move."

Granger nodded his head. "Works for me. When are you going to the office?"

"The building officially opens at 8. We are going in around 8:30. Show up in suits and briefcases. No one will look at us twice."

Granger headed for the door. "Let me know how it turns out."

* * *

When they showed a little while later Callen briefed the rest of the team on the plan.

Sam was a little skeptical. "I'm all about busting heads and taking names, but are we looking to start a shootout in the middle of an office building?"

"Is that what we are going for? No. Might it occur? Yes." Callen admitted. "But, we are going to try subtle. We are going to get suits and put MP5s in messenger bags. We walk in the front door. Eric has already pinpointed the offices we are heading for."

"How?" Deeks asked.

"It was the only company listed at the building that came back registered through a series of shell companies."

"Good enough for me." Kensi said heading to go change clothes.

"You just like a good gun fight." Sam accused.

"So." Kensi threw over her shoulder as she left the bullpen.

"You are either very brave or very foolish, Deeks." Callen clapped his hand on Deeks's shoulder.

"Foolish." Sam answered. "Definitely foolish."

"In love." Deeks responded.

"In love. Foolish. Same thing." Sam headed off to change into his suit. Deeks and Callen followed him.

* * *

Callen pulled the Mercedes into the parking garage and everyone climbed out. Callen led them across the sky bridge that allowed them to enter the building on a second floor mezzanine. There they were greeted by a pleasant security guard that pointed them toward the elevators. The group entered the constricting box and waited to arrive on the seventh floor. As they exited, they quickly determined that although there were other offices on the floor, they were not currently in use.

Callen point toward the left. "This way. Next to last door on the right."

The group took of their coats and pulled the vest and guns from their messenger bags. All of them also turned on their ear wigs.

"We are in position. The floor is empty. We are headed toward the end of the hall to make entrance." Callen informed everyone.

"Roger." Eric's answer came back instantly.

Callen and Sam stacked on the right side of the door while Kensi and Deeks took the left. Sam came from behind Callen to square up on the door. G held up three fingers. As he reached zero, Sam kicked the door in. Callen entered first, followed by Kensi, then Deeks, with Sam bringing up the rear. The noise of the door breaking free would alert anyone inside what was happening, so the group had to move quickly. After clearing the small welcoming area, Callen turned right to begin moving the group down the hall. They were just about to make entry on the first door on the right when a door down the hall opened and a canister came rolling at them.

"Flashbang!" Sam yelled.

Everyone rushed away from the device as the hall exploded in noise and light. Sam, Kensi, and Deeks made it around the corner back into the welcoming area, before the blast so they were mostly shielded. Callen on the other hand was not. He had his back to the flash, but his hearing and balance were completely destroyed. Sam grabbed him pulling him around the corner. After pulling G clear, Sam peered around the corner looking through the sights of his MP5. He saw four individuals moving down the hall with rifles. He depressed the trigger empting the entire magazine down the hallway. He was rewarded with seeing the guy in front go down and the other three scatter to rooms in the hall.

He turned to Deeks and Kensi holding up four fingers and pointing down the hall. Kensi nodded her head in understanding. As Sam reloaded his weapon, Kensi carefully peered around the corner and saw nothing. She looked at Sam and shook her head negatively indicating that she didn't see anyone. Deeks did a quick sweep of the room behind them to see if the guys they had trapped could come around from behind. A quick search showed that nobody was going to be surprising them.

Callen was still sitting on the floor shaking his head, trying to clear it from the pain and ringing. He had seen Kensi's negative sign when looking around the corner. He had also watched Deeks make sure they weren't about to get a nasty surprise from behind. He knew he had just a moment to get it together before the guys at the other end of the hall rallied and came at them. He pushed himself up off the wall, pointed at Sam, then at the hall.

Sam nodded his head, pointed at Kensi, then Deeks, then G. The group lined up and went around the corner. Sam's one clean hit was laying in the middle of the floor. Sam pointed toward the door that he had seen one of the group duck into. Kensi bent down pulling a flash bang off the fallen suspect. Sam nodded in approval. Kensi pulled the pin, Sam opened the door, Kensi threw the flash bang in the door. The grunt and thud let them now they had found there mark. Deeks and Callen rushed the room while Kensi and Sam held the hall. It only took moments to flexi cuff the unconscious man, then Deeks and Callen reentered the hall. As everyone regrouped in the hall, a door a few feet down the hall opened with the other two gunman appearing. Kensi and Sam both opened fire putting both men on the floor. As they approached, kicking the weapons clear, Kensi kneeled down to check the closest man.

"Dead." Kensi stood back up.

"This one is still breathing." Sam said standing over the final man.

As Deeks and Callen held the hall, Kensi and Sam cleared the rest of the floor. By the time they returned to Deeks and G, LAPD and paramedics had arrived on scene.

"How's the hearing G?"

"Better. Mr. Flashbang is coming to the boatshed. The wounded guy is going to get patched up at the hospital, and then he is ours."

Deeks walked up to the three holding plastic bags. "This is everything they had on them. We are going to have to let the brain trust loose in here to see what's what though."

"Let's get both prisoners secure before we bring them in. Probably going to want to bring in some extra firepower as well." Sam suggested.

"I'll make the call to Hetty." With that Callen pulled out his phone and began dialing."


	9. Caught

**Well this ends the case portion of the story. There will be a follow up sorting everyone out, as always. I've already got an idea about another case. I've noticed that people read the relationship stuff more, so I'm working on one of those as well, but those are more complicated than case stories.**

**I hope everyone enjoys the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.**

* * *

Mr. Flashbang's name was actually Andre Teller. Sam and Callen had gotten him all the way to the boathouse and into the interrogation room before he started coming to. They watched him from the main room. The picture was on half the screen and Nell's head took up the other half. She was giving them a rundown of their suspect's history.

"Former army ranger. Honorably discharged. Worked for the NSA for five years before leaving for private industry. He's worked for Quantum Security for the past four years. He has no criminal record and a clean service record."

"I don't get it." Sam shook his head. "Why does a guy like this go off the reservation?" Nothing in his past points to this sort of behavior."

"Any family, Nell? Wife? Kids?" Callen wondered.

"Nope. Single. Both parents are deceased."

"Money problems?" Sam went with the usual cause.

"None. He earned what one expects given his job. No outstanding debts, gambling, or drugs." They watched Nell scroll through screens on her pad. "Nothing stands out."

"Thanks Nell." Callen watched the screen go edge to edge with a view of the interrogation room. "Well, hopefully, interviewing this guy will go better than the last two."

"Let's hope so." Sam agreed.

G and Sam entered the interrogation room. Callen set down a bottled water and two aspirin on the table. This guy's head had to be hurting at least as bad as his was.

"Two of your associates are dead. The other is in the hospital trying to survive his wounds." Callen started the conversation. "We are in the midst of the pulling your office apart. We already have you for assaulting federal officers, attempted murder, espionage, and theft of government property. Also, there isn't any rescue coming for you, like when you sprang your friends. So, Andre, why don't you tell us what you know?"

"I want a lawyer." Andre picked up the bottle downing the two aspirin with a single gulp.

"Would you like us to contact Mr. Cruise as well?" Sam asked from the corner of the room.

That got a visible reaction from Andre. It wasn't much, but it was enough for both agents.

Callen jumped on the sign of weakness. "Yep. We know all about Mr. Cruise. Would you like to hear the conversation your team had with him last night when you broke into a house trying to kill an NSA analyst?"

Andre looked from Sam to Callen and then back again. He just slumped back in his chair. "Get me a lawyer. I have nothing else to say."

Callen stood up from the chain, heading for the door. As he opened it, Sam walked over and leaned on the table.

"I've got to know. Why? Decorated ranger. Outstanding agent. You aren't doing this for the money. You don't have any family to threaten. Why did you do it? Why did you turn on your country?"

Andre let out a laugh. "Turn on my county? I'm a patriot. I'm doing the things my country needs done to survive. I got tired of watching spineless politicians and mindless talking heads let our enemies kill us from inside and out. I found a group of people with the ability and the will to do what needed to be done, and we did it. What have you done for your country?"

Sam pulled himself to his full height. "What have I done? I was a Navy SEAL. I've sacrificed my body, my family for this country. I've never once betrayed this country."

Andre looked Sam in the eye. "This country betrayed me. Sending me off and not letting me do what really needed to be done to let us win, to keep us safe. Protecting our real enemies because it wasn't politically expedient to do what needed to be done. How many friends have you lost because of bullshit politics?" Andre stood from the chair he was seated in and Sam took a step toward him.

Callen stepped between the two men before they could come to blows. He pushed Andre back into the chair. "Sit!" He turned to Sam, pointing at the door. "You! Out!"

Sam stalked out of the room, down the hall, and into the main area of the boat house.

"Sorry about that G. But every time I hear somebody start that line of crap, it just burns me up."

"You don't have to apologize to me. I just didn't want to have to explain to Hetty why you beat the guy into a coma."

Sam let out a rough laugh. "Right. So, now what? We aren't getting anything when a lawyer shows up."

"No, but his little outburst tells us he knows he was committing a crime. We also know he found people to help him do it. Maybe we can use that to leverage more information out of the guy at the hospital. We can head over there as soon as the NSA picks this guy up."

* * *

"I still don't like it Deeks. Having them here. This is a bad idea. That have already come for Ashely and Eric twice. This is just asking for something bad to happen." Kensi was visibly unhappy.

"We have help. They've got on vest. We need them for this. I'm not exactly excited about this idea myself, you know."

Kensi just growled. "I'm going to go check with the team down stairs."

"Alright."

Kensi walked out of the office to the elevator. As the door shut, Ashley looked up from where she was working. "Are we really in that much danger?"

Nell fielded the question. "There is risk, but Kensi is being overly vigilant. The last several months have been hard for her and the rest of the team."

"Well said Velma." Deeks nodded at Nell.

"Thank you Shaggy."

Ashley looked between Nell and Deeks. "Did everything work out alright? It everyone OK?"

Deeks considered the question for a minute. "Yeah. There were some bad times, some wounds, and low points, but we all came out the other side."

Everyone heard gunfire from down stairs.

"Everyone get down!" Deeks yelled.

Kensi came across the comms. "Deeks, contact in the lobby. They've made the stairs and are headed your way. Me and three agents are headed up in the elevator."

"Roger that." Deeks turned to the agents in the room. "They are coming up the stairs. Ashley, Eric move down the hall. Don't come out until Kensi or I come and get you."

Eric and Ashley hadn't had a chance to move before both the elevator doors opened and the stairway door blew off its hinges.

Deeks was shaking his head, trying to clear it from the explosion as he pulled himself up off the floor. He noticed that Nell, Ashley, Eric, and the other agents were still trying to get up. Kensi and the four agents with her came around the corner firing into the stairwell. An answering volley of fire came from the doorway. Ashley let out a scream and crumpled to the floor.

"Ashley!" Kensi screamed. By that time Deeks was up and moving toward where she had fallen. Kensi and the three agents with her kept moving toward the stairway door. That's when she saw the canister roll in. "Flash bang." That sent everyone to the floor.

Six men were crowded on the inside of the stairway door. All the NCIS members were still gathering themselves from the floor. Eric looked up and saw one of the gunmen aim at the back of Nell's head. He jumped placing himself between the gunman and Nell. Eric took the shot directly in the vest. Nell turned as she saw his movement at the corner of her eye. Having previously pulled her pistol before the flash bang, she pointed it at the gunman, firing twice. Both bullets entered his head and he fell to the ground. Nell immediately turned around to check on Eric. She ran her hands under the vest to check for bleeding. She didn't dare take it off in while bullets where still flying.

Now Kensi was just mad. This was just the sort of thing she was afraid was going to happen and now, it was. More to the point, they were being overrun by a smaller force, which really pissed her off. She looked at the three agents ducked down beside her. She pulled out a flash bang of her own and indicated for them to do the same. She counted down from three with her fingers and all four threw flash bangs toward the stairway door. As the fourth flash bang detonated, Kensi jumped the piece of furniture that she was crouched behind and charged the door. The three other agents followed. Kensi put two bullets in the guy stills standing in the doorway. As she cleared the threshold, she was greeted with the sight of wounded and unconscious gunmen. It only took them seconds to disarm and flexi cuff the four gunmen in the stairwell."

That's when the lead agent from the lobby came on. "Everything is under control here. I've already called for police and ambulances. Agent Blye, Agent Deeks, what is your situation?"

Kensi walked back into the office. "Deeks!"

Deeks head popped up from behind a desk. "Yeah, we need an ambulance. Ashley took one in the leg. Nothing vital, but she's gonna need stiches and pain killers."

"Nell!" Kensi called next.

"I'm fine. Eric took one to the vest. He's going to be sore, but no real damage done." Nell stood up as she spoke helping Eric to a standing position.

"I'm never leaving OPS again. EVER!" He screamed and then winced from the pain in his chest. "Damn that hurts."

"Yes. Yes it does." Nell agreed.

"This is Agent Blye. We are secure. We need an ambulance for a noncritical gunshot."

"Noncritical?" Ashley said through gritted teeth.

"You are going to live and won't even need rehab, so yeah, non-critical." Deeks offered.

"Doesn't feel non critical." She responded.

"The fact that you are still conscious to feel it pretty much means it's noncritical." Deeks was still kneeled over her.

"Wow. How often do you guys get shot?" Even in pain, her curiosity got the best of her.

"Too often. Way too often." Kensi answered as she walked over to check on Ashley and Deeks.

* * *

Callen and Sam were entering the Mission when Hetty appeared in front of them. "The team was attacked at the office complex." She raised her hand to stave off further questions. "Everyone is alive. Miss Walters took a bullet in her leg and is being treated at the hospital. Agent Blye and Agent Deeks along with a group of other agents are handling security there. Mr. Beale took a shot to the vest, but is fine. Miss Jones and Mr. Beale should be back here shortly."

"What the hell! That's a pretty ballsy, if not a desperate, move on their part. Why do it?" Sam exclaimed.

"That's our fault." Granger said by way of greeting to the group. He continued speaking before they could get started. "I've been keeping director Vance in the loop and he has been keeping the Director of the NSA up to speed. Two hours ago the NSA raided Cruiser's home and took him into custody. That spooked the people at Quantum. They are apparently trying to clean up as much of the mess as they can. That's why they risked the attack at the office complex. They are running scared."

"That was decidedly unwise of the NSA Director, Owen."

"Director Vance is making that very plain to him, Hetty. When I told him about the attack, he became completely unglued. I believe his exact words were 'That unbelievable dumbass'. I don't think there is going to be much cooperation between NCIS and NSA for the foreseeable future." Granger's phone rang. He answered it. "Granger. Ok. Alright. Did they make the deal? Really. Alright. I'll inform Hetty." Granger hung up the phone. "Cruiser flipped. He's ratting out Quantum for everything he knows. Apparently he was doing it for the money. Quite the gambling problem, apparently. Homeland security just stopped four top executives of Quantum from leaving taking off in the corporate jet from one of D.C.'s smaller airports. The FBI will be hitting the offices in a few hours. Also, the media has gotten hold of the Senator Greystall angle. Cameras are already showing up at his office."

"With the media circling, it won't matter if he's innocent or not. He's will be smeared by this for life." Callen commented.

"Not necessarily." Hetty answered. "Politicians have survived worse. Especially if he's innocent, then he could very well turn it against the media and his opponents. We will just have to see how this will play out."

Just then, Eric and Nell came walking into the Mission.

"I have an all new respect for you Nell. I mean I was impressed before, but taking a shot hurts." Eric was still rubbing his chest.

"Stop touching it Eric." Nell pulled his hand away. "You are going to make the bruising worse if you don't leave it alone."

Nell and Eric both stopped with they reached the group. Sam spoke first. "Aren't you glad that Deeks insisted you wear a vest now?"

"Absolutely. I'm never going to leave OPS again. Getting shot is worse than almost getting frelted."

Nell spoke up. "He got shot stopping me from getting shot in the head. I was looking the wrong way after the flash bang went off." Everyone could see the emotion in her eyes.

"Well, Mr. Beale, I'm very glad that you are alright. We will try to be more careful in the future." Hetty said.

"How's Ashley?" Eric asked. "I wanted to go to the hospital with her but Kensi and Deeks told me no."

"She has a through and through bullet wound to her leg. Lots of blood, but nothing life threating. I'll tell her you asked about her." Hetty turned to Sam and Callen. "Given what has happened now, I think turning the suspect at the hospital over to the FBI is going to be our best course of action."

Sam, Callen, and Granger all shook their heads in agreement.

"Excellent. While this case is far from over, I think our role in it is coming to an end. Mr. Beale, Miss Jones. Please take the rest of the day and tomorrow off. After that you can take the information we have gathered and send it to the NSA and FBI."

"Thanks Hetty." They both answered.

"You two as well Mr. Callen, Mr. Hanna. Time off. I will go to the hospital to relieve Miss Blye and Mr. Deeks."

"If you don't mind Hetty, I'll go to the hospital with you." Callen said.

"Of course Mr. Callen." Hetty answered.

* * *

At the hospital Hetty and Callen found Kensi and Deeks standing out in front of Ashley's room in the emergency department.

"What's wrong, Hetty?" Kensi asked as soon as she saw them.

"Relax Kensi." Callen reassured. "Things have changed for the better."

"Yes. They have indeed. The NSA has arrested Mr. Cruiser. Homeland security has arrested several executives from Quantum trying to flee the country. The FBI will be raiding their offices momentarily. The media already has wind of the story and is camping out in front of Senator Greystall's office."

"Yeah, the arrest of Cruiser led to the attack at the office. They were trying to clean up the mess they left, but it's too late now."

"Yes. I'm relieving you of duty. Go home and get some rest. Mr. Callen and I are going to keep watch over Miss Walters."

"Hetty, if you don't mind, we would both like to stay till she leaves. They should be releasing her in the next hour." Deeks asked.

"Of course Mr. Deeks. Of course."

"Thanks Hetty." Kensi said for both of them.

Hetty and Callen entered the room. Ashley was sitting in a bed with a large bandage around her upper leg. She had her eyes closed, but opened them as soon as she heard noise in the room. She saw Hetty first. "Hetty?" As she scanned the room a smile came across her face as she saw Callen. "G? Is everything alright?"

"Yes, Miss Walters. Everything is fine. In fact large portions of Quantum have been arrested. Mr. Cruiser has been taken into custody and is turning on everyone."

"You are safe Ash. Kensi and Deeks are out front and Hetty and I are staying until you are released."

"Thanks, but I don't have anywhere to go." Ashley said sadly.

"I can take you to a hotel, no problem. I can take you back to the Mission if you would feel safer."

"The Mission sounds good."

"Miss Walters, I don't know if now is the best time to ask, but will you be going back to the NSA?"

"I hadn't thought about it, but no, I don't think so. Too many bridges have been burned there."

"How would you like to join NCIS? You can come work with us at the Mission."

Ashley was shocked by the question. She hadn't even thought about what she was going to do past quitting the NSA. She certainly hadn't thought there would be a job offer.

"You don't have to answer right now of course. You have had quite the exciting few days. Take some time and think about it." Hetty looked at Ashley then at Callen. "I have to check on the other agents here and our prisoner transfer. I'll be back in a few moments." With that Hetty left the room.

That left Ashley and Callen alone in a very quiet room.

* * *

**I admit the ending is abrupt, but I'm going to start up from here on the next chapter. Besides, this chapter was getting a little out of hand.**


	10. Loose Ends

**This isn't how an author should start a chapter, but I don't like this one. I couldn't get it to come together the way I thought it should. I'm not sure why is doesn't, or what I've missed, but something is off. I've published it for two reasons. One, to end the story. I need to tie up everything if I want to write another one it the group. Two, I kept making changes and writing it over and it kept getting worse. I published to stop the insanity.**

**Thank you everyone who has read. I will attempt to do much better on the next story, if I write it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA and this chapter is proof why.**

* * *

Ashley spoke first. "You were right."

"About what?" Callen wasn't sure what she was talking about.

"Getting shot isn't nearly as heroic as it looks in the movies. Shootouts are much more thrilling and less horrifying when watching them on a screen."

"Yep. That is absolutely true. The danger should be over now, though. The information is in the open. Cruiser is telling everything he knows. The power behind Quantum is in custody. Even if Greystall is involved, there is too much publicity for him to attempt anything. You should be safe."

"If I'm so safe, why is everyone here?"

"We aren't just going to abandon you, besides, overkill is underrated. Also I wanted to be sure that you were alright."

Ashley stared at him for a moment. "Did you know about the job offer?"

"That? No. It's a good opportunity though. Change of scenery, working with people you can trust, and you don't even have to interview. It would also stop any sort of professional retaliation that might occur."

Ashley's eyes got wide at that statement.

"I'm not saying it will happen, or that it is even likely, just that it would be one less thing to worry about."

"Doesn't matter. I'm done with the NSA even if I don't take the job here. I thought being hidden, being unknown would protect me. I thought it would keep me safe. Instead it almost made it easier to kill me. Eric was the only person I could trust and the only one that would have noticed me being gone." Ashley let out a sad laugh. "Wow! That sounds so sad and pathetic."

Callen finally left the foot of the bed, walking around the side and sitting in the chair next to Ashley's head. "No, it's just one of the hazards that can happen in a job like this."

"You have people that would notice you missing."

"Now, but there was a time, if something happened to me, there wouldn't have even been stuff left behind much less people. No locker to clean out, no house full of nick-nacks. At least you left some mark on the world to show you were here." It wasn't like Callen to be melancholy, but the realization of the way he had spent most of his life hit him pretty hard.

Ashley saw the sadness cross his features. "Sorry G. I didn't mean to bring you down. I suppose I should be happy. This is over. It just doesn't feel like a happy moment right now."

"You feel any way you want to. Situations like these are emotional rollercoasters. Work through them in whatever way is best for you. If you need to talk, or just someone to just listen, you can come to me, or anyone on the team. Even if you don't take the job, you aren't alone in this. We will help you."

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

It was only ten minutes later that the doctor came and gave her a final evaluation, then released her.

Callen helped her out to his car and Kensi, Deeks, and Hetty followed them back to the Mission. It didn't take long to make the trip and as Callen pulled into the parking lot Hetty, Kensi, and Deeks pulled up behind him.

"We are good, guys. I'll see everyone tomorrow."

Kensi and Deeks looked like they were about to argue but instead just waved and headed home. Hetty actually parked her car.

"I'll stay to you get inside, Mr. Callen."

Callen just smiled and shook his head. He turned to help Ashley out of the car. Between the pain medications she had been given, the bandages on her leg, and the crutches, she was struggling with each step. Callen finally, after four feet, couldn't take it anymore. He simply walked up behind Ashley picking her up in his arms and carried her into the building. He expected some form of protest, but none came. She just wrapped one arm around his neck while she held her crutches with the other.

As they got to the bullpen, Callen carried her to the sofa, carefully lowering her onto the cushions. She looked up at him. "Thank you, gallant knight."

Callen laughed. "You are welcome, my lady. Now get some sleep." Callen walked over and pulled a blanket off the shelf near the window, draping it across Ashley.

"Goodnight Callen."

Callen laid down on the floor placing one of the pillows from the sofa under his head. "Good night, Ashley."

* * *

"Ow." Eric said as he sat down of the sofa. "I really appreciate it Nell, but you don't have to stay."

Nell just looked at him with a look of disbelief. "I know how much what happened to you hurt. It's going to be worse tomorrow. Just be still." Nell walked into his kitchen to get ice for his chest. "Besides, we have a conversation to finish."

At that moment in time the pain in his chest disappeared. He was so not ready for this conversation. He had no idea what to say to her. He had been in relationships before, but this was Nell. She was smart, sexy, badass. He was so out of his league here. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Nell enter the room until the ice was placed on his chest. He sucked in a breath at the sensation.

"Sorry." Nell winced as he stiffened. "Trust me though, the more you ice it now, the better off you will be later. I also got you two aspirin. Go ahead and take them to take the edge off later." She handed him the two pills and bottle of water. He took them without comment. Nell lifted his head, sitting down so that he was using her legs as a pillow. She began absentmindedly running her fingers through his hair. She wasn't sure where to start, so she decided to start at the beginning. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

Eric had his eyes closed, enjoying the sensation of the fingers caressing his scalp. He took a minute to gather his thoughts. "We work together. I didn't want to give off a creeper vibe. It's a clique. The uber-geek has a crush on the hot agent in training. That only turns out well in the movies, and even then not always. You are going to be an agent, Nell, that's not something I ever want. I thought you would go for more of a man of action type."

"So you weren't even going to ask me out? Even after I kissed you?"

"I thought it was a pity kiss. I'm aware that I'm a five, tops, Nell. You are a nine, nine and half."

Nell put on an indignant look. "A nine?"

Eric let a smile come across his face. "You aren't rich and don't own a Ferrari. I guy has got to have standards."

Nell laughed despite herself. "You are so lucky you are injured Eric Beale, otherwise I would hurt you. I've been sparring with Kensi. I could do it."

Eric chuckled then winced. "Ooh. Don't make me laugh. I have no doubts that you could take me. It's kind of hot."

"I don't think you are five either. You took care of Bash with very little effort."

"Bash? I know where I stand in the geek hierarchy. Crashing the internet puts you in the top 1%. Being cool in the geek world makes you exactly the opposite in the real world."

"I think you are very cool, in both worlds." Nell said.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Nell just playing with his hair and Eric laying comfortably.

"So, when I'm better, will you let me take you on a date?"

"Yes. I would love to."

"Where would you like to go?"

"Surprise me." Nell bent down kissing him on the forehead. "Now you get some rest. I'll be right here when you wake up."

In moments Eric was sound asleep.

* * *

Kensi walked into the den handing Deeks a beer. "I would like to thank you for not getting shot this time."

Deeks took the offered beer. "I would like to thank you for doing your part in not letting me get shot."

"Glad to be of help partner." Kensi clinked the beer bottles together as she sat down on the couch.

"So, do you think that Neric is a done deal now?" Deeks asked.

"I don't know about a done deal, but Nell did take him home. I just texted her to ask how Eric was doing. She said he's asleep."

"So she is still there."

"Yes. I would assume she was."

"Cool, then I can call them Neric when I see them next."

"You might want to be careful about that. You start calling them Neric, they call us Densi, Sam and Callen start…"

"I'm not worried about Callen. I'll call him Cash and I'll call Sam, Manna." Deeks said with a large grin.

"Cash for Ashley and Callen might be a little premature. Sure Ashley has a crush, but you are talking about G here. I would be careful about the Manna thing. If Michelle hears that, she will destroy you."

"Do I look suicidal? I would never mention it to Michelle. You know she choked out a parent at a little league game, right?"

Kensi just laughed and took a sip of her beer.

* * *

The following morning Granger arrived at the Mission early. He noticed both Ashley and Callen sleeping in the bullpen and kept moving. Hetty was already at her desk.

"She's still here. Did she take the job?" Granger took a seat in front of Hetty's desk.

"Not yet. I have a good feeling about the outcome though." Hetty cast a glance at the sofa. "A very good feeling."

"Speaking of good feelings, Cruiser is not only telling everything he knows, but actually kept evidence of crimes to cover himself incase this very situation occurred. One vice president of Quantum committed suicide in his home last night. The ones caught fleeing the country have lawyered up, but with all their assets frozen, that should be interesting. Also, it appears, even if Senator Greystall was innocent, he did break the law by allowing non-cleared individuals access to classified data. He probably won't be thrown out of office, but it's doubtful he will run again."

"What about the Quantum people currently in the field? I assume they are being taken care of."

"They have been brought in and all are being individually evaluated. Many of them don't know anything about what was being done, but we have to be sure." Granger said.

"Always Owen." Hetty took a sip of tea. "Always."

* * *

When Ashley awoke, sun was coming through the windows. She looked over and saw Callen at his desk working. The rest of the group wasn't in yet. She pulled herself to a sitting position and ran her hands through her hair.

Callen turned to her. "Morning sleepy head. Feel better?"

"Less tired. My leg hurts worse though."

Callen got up from his desk. As he made his way to the sofa he pulled a bottle of pills out of his pocket. "That's because you need to take a pain pill. You are past due." Callen handed her a pill.

Ashley gratefully took the pills and washed them down. "Thanks. Is Hetty here, yet?"

Callen laughed. "Hetty is always here. Why?"

"Causing I'm going to accept that job." She smiled at Callen.

He just nodded his head and returned the smile.


End file.
